Is tradition the newest trend in marketing?

It’s a delicious irony, but tradition seems to be rather trendy at the moment.

In the last few weeks, there has been a spate of articles about the place of tradition in marketing.

There was this ripping Financial Times piece by Ian Leslie.

There was also this article by Mark Ritson.

And this one by Suzanne Pope.

Richard Huntington drew inspiration from Byron Sharp.

Meanwhile, Some Hack jumped on the bandwagon. Ahem.

And let’s not forget Bob Hoffman, who espouses the value of traditional thinking – hilariously – in pretty much every article he writes.

I get the sense that there’s something in this.

It’s conceivable that marketers with decades of experience (and a truckload of evidence in Byron Sharp’s case) might know a thing or two about marketing.

And maybe, just maybe, there is still some use for traditional marketing approaches.

But we can’t simply learn from the past, follow basic principles and create effective marketing as a result. Oh, no.

To make waves in the modern marketing world, this trend needs a name. And not just any name, either – it needs a portmanteau.

I’m thinking either ‘tradisruption’ or ‘traditionnovation’.

But I need your help here. Which do you prefer? Or do you have a better suggestion?

This is important, you see. Co-creating a silly buzzword is the only way we’re going to get people to take tradition seriously.

By Ryan Wallman, Head of Copy at Wellmark.

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