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Marketing's Old Guard...

...in a rear-guard action?  From ClickZ:
"Sure, the old guard (in advertising) may talk the talk, but the numbers seem to say that they don't know what they're talking about. A recent study by Alterian found that seven out of 10 marketing professionals admit to having little or no understanding about how their brand (or their clients' brand) is being discussed in social media. Let me say that again: 70 percent of people who do marketing for a living have no knowledge of what's going on with their brands in the social media space!"
I haven't read Alterian's study in great detail, but neither do I have evidence that a 70 percent clueless estimate is too high, especially in health care.

Is it that they don't know, or don't want to know?   The old guard grew up believing that they were the conversation or, at the very least, were firmly in control.  They talked.  We listened, awestruck.

On some level, they probably knew that conversations were occurring over back fences and in the stands at kiddie soccer.  But without methods to measure or monitor those conversations, it was all too easy to ignore their impact.  Times change but old guards always do their best to preserve the good ol' days.

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