Naturally, President Obama addressed the economy and our national psyche in his inaugural speech today.
Here’s but one interesting passage:
We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
Standing pat? Protecting narrow interests? Putting off unpleasant decisions?
All things we in media and marketing know a little something about.
He also called for a return to basics. The things that made this country great. Could our business also take a lesson from that?
Not really, Stu, as a return to basics for advertising would involve outdated, bloated practices that are no longer relevant in a marketplace driven by ROI, effectiveness, efficiency and fiscal responsibility.
Yeah, Stu, your honest reminder doesn’t fit in with my curious need to reframe the argument. So instead of seeing the truth in your comment and maybe just adding to it a bit, I’ll reject it outright.
How very last-eight-years of you, Billy.
Billy it could mean less narcissism, more focus on ideas, and a return to insights that bind us versus fragment us into micro-splinters. It could mean using data as a tool, not an answer. and the same wirh technology. What did Obama use to unite our country yesterday? Ideas expressed in words that cut across age, race, gender. That’s what great communicators with great insight can do.
@Stu – i’m for a return to basics as you’ve described them, but I’ve found some people in our business aren’t grounded in the basics, which means it’s not a return for them, it’s an arrival.