MarketingProfs Articles : Stupid—But Enlightened About It

What's worse? A stupid marketer who remains blissfully unaware of his ignorance, or one who recognizes—and embraces—his stupidity? In a YouTube homage to Christopher Guest, Kevin Nalty (aka Nalts) adopts the persona of the "enlightened stupid marketer" for a mockumentary-style riff on those who knowingly operate in a superficial world of marketingspeak clichés.

"Enlightened stupid marketers are at a fork in the road," he says with faux gravity. "Keep being stupid, or be stupid but conceal that fact." Nalty's character then details how the enlightened stupid marketer can keep his stupidity under wraps:

• Create the impression that you're very busy by walking quickly, scheduling meetings that overlap and carrying both a portfolio and a BlackBerry.
• Use key terms in meetings like "customer portrait" and "consumer value."

Other statements from our enlightened stupid marketer show his attempts to disguise a lack of initiative and competence with catchy vocabulary:

• "I like to stick with proven offline strategies to drive awareness. It's not that digital marketing isn't proven, it's that I can't conduct a thorough ROI. No, I don't do ROI on the rest of my media mix, but that's because they're proven."

• "I'd prefer someone to be aware of my product, than to not purchase it. They can't convert if they're not aware. For instance, why would you give paid search credit for a certain conversion when it might just be a spillover of awareness of a USA Today newspaper ad that no one looked at?"

The video is good for some empathetic chuckles. But it also offers this Marketing Inspiration: There's no way to justify enlightened stupidity.

More Inspiration:
Ted Mininni: Getting Back to Leadership Wins Back the Trust
Mark Ivey: Why (Digital) Small Talk Matters. Really.
Paul Dunay: Social Network-Based Caller Routing