Let me just get this out up front. I drank the Seth Godin koolaid a long time ago. I think he’s a genius and have even come to blows with someone who spoke ill of him. Ok that’s a lie, but still… big fan.
So this weekend when he posted a link over to a video of his speech given to Google, I immediately clicked over and gave it a watch. The problem was… I wasn’t impressed.
Sure he had all kinds of good stuff to say. He talked about the funnel and the purple cow and so on. But it was nothing new. All of it I’ve heard before. Mostly on his blog and the rest from his books.
And actually it wasn’t even as good because he had to sum it all up in less then thirty minutes.
So why would anyone pay to see this guy give a talk? You’ll get less information for a higher price then buying his books and keeping up with his blog. And yet he still gets top dollar to speak.
It’s because he’s lying to us! When Seth Godin says “All Marketers Are Liars” he’s including himself in that. The story he tells and we, in turn, tell ourselves is that it’s somehow worth paying exorbitant prices to hear him live. Do we get more insight from seeing him live? Do we someone “get it” when we see and hear him say it instead of read it? Of course not! We want to see him live because of the way it makes us feel.
It’s cool to say we saw Seth live. And maybe we beeline it to him after the talk to shake his hand and snap a picture. Then we can jump on our laptops and blog about it. All under the ruse of making us better marketers and filing the expense report with our companies.
So is it worth it? On paper… heck no. In our heads… absolutely.
seth godin on March 6th, 2006 at 8:12 am
A great point, Tim.
I think it’s interesting to note that the Annie Proulx short story Brokeback Mountain is a cheaper, faster way to get the message of the movie, and yet people went to see the movie 30 times more often.
The thing about messages is that different people need to hear them differently.
Tom Peters once said that less than 5% of the people who bought In Search of Excellence actually read it. For some people, the act of buying it was worth $15. Nothing wrong with that…
Mashable.com/journal on March 6th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Seth Godin Sells More X-Ray Specs
So multiple bloggers (Darren Rowse, for one) are pointing to the video of Seth Godin’s talk at Google. I’ve always been skeptical about Seth’s work, and now I think I understand why.
You see, Seth really doesn’t have anything…
Nate K on March 6th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Greetings!
Though I really enjoyed watching this over my lunch break, I must admit that I agree with some of what you are saying (and understand what Seth is saying in response). Not that everything he said was new - but sometimes it is good to hear it in a new light. To see the visual. To see the slides. To hear the tone. To watch the facial expressions and cues. To hear the questions from the audience and response - these are things not often found in books or blogs.
So, though I agree with you to a point - I can see from both sides.
Peace,
Nate
Enthousiasmeren » Blog Archive » All Marketers Are Liars, including Seth on March 6th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
[...] Ik heb het gehele filmpje bekeken en omdat ik Seth nog nooit life had gezien vond ik het wel een leuke ervaring. Maar ik vind aan de andere kant ook wel weer dat Tim Grahl van Business Opportunities Weblog gelijk heeft in So when he says ‘All’ he means ALL. De presentatie is niets, OK niet veel, nieuws onder de zon, als je Seth’s weblog bij houd en zijn boeken hebt gelezen. Het is een interessant verhaal en ik zie veel dingen in zijn verhalen maar de presentatie is niet een aanvulling op de al opgedane kennis, meer een samenvatting van ongeveer 30 minuten. [...]
angiemckaig.com on March 7th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
assorted sweets: 2006.03.07
Making Time for MarketingThis is just SO important. I wish more businesspeople and companies understood this - then again, their loss, is my gain. :) So when he says ‘All’ he means ALLTim’s amusing take on the Seth Godin speech making its way aroun…