Spring Break
Permission marketing gains long-term support
Lawrence Uebel
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: OpEd Page
Saul Alinsky, a famous American activist during the 1950s and 1960s, once had a plan for what he called "the world's first fart-in." He had been called to Rochester, N.Y., by a group called FIGHT, a popular representative of the minority black community in Rochester. FIGHT felt that Eastman Kodak, the city's primary business, had been practicing discriminatory hiring and refusing to deal with them. Alinksy wanted to create political pressure by hitting the upper class Rochester residents where it hurt: their artistic pride and joy, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The plan was to buy tickets for 100 local blacks, serve them large portions of baked beans before a show and let nature take its course. Word of the tactic leaked, and, though not the sole cause, Kodak's resistance crumbled before it was implemented.
Protesting today is never as swift, creative or effective - in large part because it's cliché. It's boring. Despite the many worthy causes, none has gained the attention or momentum the great movements of the 1950s and 1960s did. Plenty of smart people take the easy out and blame this on popular apathy, but maybe there's something more complicated at work. Internet entrepreneur and marketing guru Seth Godin has recently popularized the term "permission marketing," which he opposes to the more traditional "interruption marketing." Interruption marketing is what most people think of when they hear the word "marketing:" commercials, promotions, fancy packaging - basically anything that gets in your face and attempts to manipulate you while you're trying to do something else. Permission marketing, on the other hand, means providing a highly useful service and then asking permission from (hopefully satisfied) customers to keep them informed about new products and services. The fundamental difference is respect: interruption marketing attempts to seize your attention, while permission marketing attempts to earn it.
Godin regularly argues that permission marketing is the future of business because larger companies can no longer monopolize consumer attention. TV is a perfect example. When you watch shows on the Internet or TiVo, you're no longer stuck watching commercials. As these forms of TV access become more common, commercials will become a less potent form of marketing. Causes (which, here, is an umbrella term for protests and non-profits) have a similar problem. Getting people involved was easier in the '50s and '60s because there were fewer distractions. Attention was a more abundant good.
Protesting today is never as swift, creative or effective - in large part because it's cliché. It's boring. Despite the many worthy causes, none has gained the attention or momentum the great movements of the 1950s and 1960s did. Plenty of smart people take the easy out and blame this on popular apathy, but maybe there's something more complicated at work. Internet entrepreneur and marketing guru Seth Godin has recently popularized the term "permission marketing," which he opposes to the more traditional "interruption marketing." Interruption marketing is what most people think of when they hear the word "marketing:" commercials, promotions, fancy packaging - basically anything that gets in your face and attempts to manipulate you while you're trying to do something else. Permission marketing, on the other hand, means providing a highly useful service and then asking permission from (hopefully satisfied) customers to keep them informed about new products and services. The fundamental difference is respect: interruption marketing attempts to seize your attention, while permission marketing attempts to earn it.
Godin regularly argues that permission marketing is the future of business because larger companies can no longer monopolize consumer attention. TV is a perfect example. When you watch shows on the Internet or TiVo, you're no longer stuck watching commercials. As these forms of TV access become more common, commercials will become a less potent form of marketing. Causes (which, here, is an umbrella term for protests and non-profits) have a similar problem. Getting people involved was easier in the '50s and '60s because there were fewer distractions. Attention was a more abundant good.
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