Thanks Sarah, I think this provides all the context needed for the change happening in marketing today!

Thanks Andrew, “the business” in this context was meant to refer to business executives. Or as I love to say, “behind every piece of bad marketing is an executive who asked for it.” I think it is generally ego that prompts executives to ask for specific kinds of marketing. The CMO should understand the business goals and be given the authority to create the most amazing marketing he or she can. But the CEO and other execs are the face of a company. So obviously they will want inout into the final product.

That philosophy travels all the way down the executive ranks to the point where every tactic likely has a non-marketing manager not just “asking for a cake, but telling marketing what ingredients to use and how to bake it.”

In the end, no one wins.

As one senior marketer told me recently, “the business asks for things you know won’t work. But in order to gain their trust you have to give them what they asked for. And then take the trust you’ve built and try to educate them on what will work.”