Working as a copywriter and later CD in Germany, I lead quite a few major pitches. Once my team received the brief, the first thing they did was grab all the available Luerzer Archives and annuals. And for the next few days, all the creative power was wasted on rummaging through old annuals, trying to be inspired by genius. In the end, none of it resulted in any innovative ideas, just recycling brilliant ideas into second-rate advertising.

But what would you expect from a society that thrives on copycats? Food Network is based on the idea that people don’t trust their own instincts, rather copying experts. Andrew writes brilliantly about his own cooking experience on the Northern Planner blog. Just spend a few hours with HGTV, home improvement magazines or healthy lifestyles shows. It’s all about copying what other people have done.

Average marketing is done by reading a lot of advice. An average life is lived by consuming a lot of advice. Real life starts when you get the basics down, learn everything you can from your parents, family, friends, books, movies, music, etc. and then shut all the outside influences out and create your own life. Your own convictions, your own style.

All the people that ask for another viral video or a widget or more bright shiny objects, didn’t take the time to process information. Just like the creatives reading annuals after annuals. Get the creative brief and let it sink in. Don’t give in to the noise and create more noise. Then use the product/service. Push it as hard as you can. Use it as you. Use it as your neighbor. Use it as Joe Blow. And let that sink in. Your job is to keep the noise level down to a minimum. Your mind needs silence to develop inspiring, innovative ideas.

These are hectic times: Ad clutter, nervous marketing departments, anxious agencies to sell the newest fad or sticking to the old :30s because the rest is so confusing.

It’s not that hard.

Instead of relying on the pied pipers of old/new/emerging/whatever marketing, trust yourself first. Or as Funkadelic brilliantly sang: “Free your mind and your ass will follow.”

When you wake up at 3.30 am to catch an early flight (after 3 hours of sleep) and you spend the full flight reading a book, you know you have a winner in your hand. It’s not easy to keep social marketing/conversational marketing freaks and geeks thoroughly entertained while, at the same time, adding a new level of understanding and knowledge to my 100-social-media-blogs-daily-brainwashed mind. But Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff achieved this goal by writing the first new media bible titled “Groundswell”.

Targeted towards the marketing department at businesses, the insights won’t disappoint or bore the chin-stroking social media experts. Quite the opposite: “Groundswell” gives marketers enough reasons to listen to and join the conversation but warning them throughout the book to take it slowly and, in the spirit of “Meatball Sundae”,  adjust their social media strategy to their specific business and desired objectives.

The examples and case studies were fresh but I was hoping for an online extension of the book (Joseph Jaffe did a great job) and, even more important, all of us would have benefited from failure stories. There are many and we can all learn from them. But these are just constructive additions:

The writing, the case studies, tools you can use each day to evaluate your new marketing strategy and a first attempt at calculating the ROI for various media tactics should make you run out to the bookstore. Or just click here.

Traditional brands had one goal: make money. They used to live within a commerce and communication environment with the end goal of selling emotions and products to the public.

Modern brands have become movements within a cultural and social environment that doesn’t focus on selling. Rather, modern brands share their passion towards a bigger cause.

Meaning, brands move away from a selfish purpose to the bigger cause of social change by sharing a passion and unifying against a common enemy. In order to succeed, brands will have to play a more cultural rather than a commercial role. This cause has to be serious and permeate the whole brand culture; otherwise people will see through any clever advertising and immediately feel cheated by the hollow attempt to sell. Aspiration as the ultimate goal for brands doesn’t sit well with the changing roles of people: They evolved from consumers to prosumers, journalists, thieves, producers, brand ambassadors. And they don’t buy stuff anymore, they vote with their wallets.

Our old form of communication was about seducing people with flashy stories and imagery. But those times are coming to an end. A brand that understands the passion of people and stands shoulder to shoulder with people fighting for a cause or against a common enemy has a good chance of being seen as a credible partner to enhance the culture and social environment.

The real question is: Will brands rise above the quarterly profit stranglehold of Wall Street? Will they pursue a better culture than a better profit? Global brands clearly have the firepower to change society and culture in unimaginable ways. It’s doubtful we’ll ever get another political ‘Ask not what your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for the country’ ground swell together. But there’s hope a brand will say one day to Wall Street: ‘Don’t ask what this brand can do for you. Ask what you can do for the brand.’