Advertising - whats IT got to do with it?

IT managers of yore would never have anything to do with advertising or marketing. That was for those pony tailed folks, the ones who had a pencil on their ears, and sometimes even wore a ring in their ears. The kind of people IT managers could not identify with, as if they were beings from another planet. IT managers stuck to running ERP projects and BI projects and laying down complex networks and spoke in lingo that no one understood, leave alone those marketing nerds.

How things change. Technology makes people hobnob with very different kinds of people, and I can't think of any different sets of people than IT managers and marketing/brand managers.

Because, marketing is now turning to technology like never before to get their message across. So much so, that their way of life/work has soon get completely changed due to technology - and these days one finds those creative pony tail bearers beating down the technology tracks in droves. Making Youtube videos, creating alternative lives, creating face-book identities and managing them.

The change hit me as a I read this article on how on-line communities are forcing Unilever, the CPG gaint, to look at technology enabled communities and word-of-mouth, and dealing with its impact on their advertising strategy. It hasn't come to their budgets yet, or so they say, it isn't easy to depose earlier held beliefs - but the change is real enough.

So, whats IT got to do with advertising? Plenty, in a couple of years. It may become the way brands and built and protected, if they are not already. And if you are an IT manager, you could only ignore web 2.0, on-line communities and the effects it can have on your company at your peril. No, make that to the peril of your CMO. He/she may or may not have a job if he does not make nice with you, and you ditto.