Falling from Grace

Working in marketing and advertising, I get frequent crises of conscience. Why aren't I doing anything useful? Am I a nasty hidden persuader? Shouldn't I be out saving the world single-handed?

At such moments, a book title like that by Lynn Serafinn has a certain appeal. In Roman times, there were only three graces, but Ms Serafinn has summoned up another four to complete her "7 Graces of Marketing: How to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell." Before we get onto whether this might be a bit of a tall order, let's have a look at the 7 Graces:

Collaboration
Connection
Inspiration
Invitation
Directness
Transparency
Abundance

So far, so good. These words have all been drifting around the marketing consciousness  for the best part of the current millennium. Before I rushed to buy the book, though, I took a look at the website to see what went on at the 7 Graces Global Conference at the end of June in London.

I was rather dismayed to see that there had been some kind of confusion or misunderstanding, necessitating a 31 minute video from Lynn Serafinn. I haven't listened to it all, but surmised that it was all about that old chestnut from the playground - who's going to be the leader.

I do feel a degree of sympathy - if you preach collaboration, directness and transparency, then you need to play these out. You can't just solve disputes with "because I say so."

But I have to admit that just a few minutes on the site drained me of energy rather than inspiring. I yearned to go back to snappy jingles, Schadenfreude- based humour and catchy slogans.

If I want to assuage my bad conscience again, I'll just reach for John Grant's excellent "Co-opportunity".