aaargh, the technology bites me bum again

i hate it when it does that (is that a meme too chris)

i'm not so sure that all the high falutin language or the salubrious use of expletive that chris wraps around his advertising makes it any superior to any other form of marketing

i'm not even sure that chris makes any attempt at even hinting at such an implication in his book (since those larcenous fucks at amazon havent delivered it yet) but he certainly is not afraid to use rageboys list as an effective marketing tool

i'm not convinced that the fact that web-marketing is on the web makes it essentially different to any other form nor makes the relevant success factors any different

and nor has the humble blog escaped his mercantile endeavours so the simultaneous claim that the web is somehow different and ought to be approached differently ought not necessarily to be greeted with unqualified enthusiasm by those who remember fondly the good old days of the net in all its irrelevant academic publicly-funded self-indulgent adolescent glory nor anyone else for that matter

while there may indeed be technical nuances to be learned and assimilated by marketers venturing anew into net territory, it is far from clear that these nuances are, ipso facto, evidence of some fundamental difference in the medium - or its adherents - that makes tradmarcomm obsolescent or even a bit stale

this is a bit like saying that wanting snow-tires proves that the fundamental nature of the ground beneath the snow has changed things so much that maps are no longer sufficient or adequate some other means of finding your way must be learned

as noted chris himself has not hesitated to include blogging as simply one more marketing tool and to consistently use it to point not only to the product he so candidly must sell but to showcase all the other avenues hes assimilated into his marketing campaign as well

it is this fundamental sameness of treatment - that marks the web blogging email and indeed the whole gamut of net-dependent technological advances as simply one more string to the marketers bow - that most upsets the nostalgic ivory tower dwellers of the net

maybe that is why dave winer objects

far from differentiating the web or chris - its apparently most ardent defender of the newly protestant web-marketing faith - as inherently new radical upsetting and possibly dangerous this fundamental sameness shows that neither chris nor any other marketing walla has changed all that much no matter how much the web might have allowed them the opportunity to change our views of (some of) them or just to get to know them better

still hustling still moving product still taking care of business

nothing at all wrong with that

but -

that chris does it with such good humour such admirable rancour such sly wit and purloined genius such eclectic insight and such disturbing rage shouldn't blind anyone to the fact that marketing - as a meme if you like - is not only far from dead it is alive and kicking sand in the face of the puny weaklings cowering in blogs and cursing in futile emails to contact addresses that go nowhere

as i loved to tease my folks when i was a lad "we are the people our parents warned us about - and we are everywhere!"

be afraid - be very afraid