Original version was published on www.chiefmartec.com on 2012-11-08 19:07:21 by Scott Brinker
[My Personal Thoughts] It’s funny that I am about to publish this blog a few hours after I saw the movie “Life of Pi” http://www.facebook.com/LifeofPi, interestingly enough the lead character in the movie PI Singh discusses his name initials “pi” as in the capital Greek letter pi – Π, has to develop in-depth expertise in 2 areas, first how to survive on a rescue water floating in an ocean alone for almost an year and secondly how to handle a wild Bengal Tiger on the same boat:), failing in one would have been the end of his life. My topic today can easily connect with that analogy – evolution of the Marketing Technologist and the Marketing Landscape in general and what it means for a marketer to marry a technologist.
Ashley Friedlein, the CEO of Econsultancy, had a great op-ed in Marketing Week a few weeks back, Why modern marketers need to be pi-people.
[From Scott Brinker's chiefmartec.com]
It’s a riff on the label “T-shaped people” that has been popularized in digital marketing over the past few years. T-shaped people have a specific expertise where they go really deep (e.g., graphic design, software development, data analytics, etc.), but they also have broad interest and sufficiently useful surface-level skills across many other adjacent disciplines. Many marketing technologists have had this profile: expertise in technology and engineering, but interest and skills across more traditional marketing capabilities.
According to Friedlein, pi-shaped people are “marketers with a broad base of knowledge in all areas, but capabilities in both ‘left brains’ and ‘right brain’ disciplines. They are both analytical and data-driven, yet understand brands, storytelling, and experiential marketing.” (Emphasis added is my own.)
This comment was made in the context of Friedlein giving broader insight in response to the question: How do you create a marketing function fit for the future? He talks about how brands advance along a digital marketing maturity model by integrating digital into the primary organization, not sequestering it in a separate silo. “Integrating digital into the organization properly reaches nirvana only when there is no left in the organization with ‘digital’, ‘e’, ‘online’, ‘internet’, ‘new media’, or ‘interactive’ in their job title,” he writes.
It’s at that point that he makes the case for pi-shaped people as the leaders in this new generation of integrated marketing.
“Of course, it is asking a lot for someone to be talented at everything creative and analytical,” he admits, “But these people do exist and represent the future of truly integrated marketing. Witness the growth of job titles such as ‘creative technologist’ or chief marketing technologist. You want people who focus on the customer, understand data, like change, are curious and passionate.”
He also notes that marketing processes are changing, embracing an agile marketing approach. “There’s a move towards more agile ways of working, which should affect marketing as much as project management or IT. We have to move from highly linear, highly specified, rigid ways to more fluid, reactive, dynamic approaches.” Do take a moment to look at the full article — it’s a great read.
This article is from:
Econsultancy’s CEO: Marketing needs pi-shaped people
Well said Mayur, the PI shape is a must have.