Make love, not war

A few headlines pulled randomly from this week's marketing press:

"NI poised to parachute in chief marketing officer"

'"Lucozade Sport to target gyms"

"Sky uses viral ad to push golf and cricket"

Is it me, or is use of warlike language in marketing becoming increasingly dated? Parachuting, ambushing, targeting, pushing, campaigning, attacking and dominating. Clearly marketing is as stuck in the adversarial model as ever. It's all about us and them - we push, they resist, we find new ways to push, until they give in and buy.

According to Simon Sylvester in How to Think Digital, since 2003 consumers have been spending more on devices and services to avoid watching advertising than the entire advertising industry has been spending on media to reach them.

Marketing is going through a crisis – if it's not about targeting, what on earth is it about? In the Web 2.0 model it's about conversations – realising that the distance between businesses and their customers has shrunk – the relationship has changed. We need a ceasefire, a way of friendly co-existence. Consumers are our neighbours, not our enemy.

It's not just that anyone can now put up a website, say what they think on a blog, post a video and avoid watching advertising. There are still plenty of people who have no intention of ever seizing the means of media production. But the mindset, the culture has changed. Who will be the companies to succeed and prosper during peacetime?

*The peace symbol is 50 years old this year. The version pictured here is by Aurora Fox.