Marketing Musings: Need Inspiration? Ask Bob Dylan
Esther Clark
Global Head of Communications | MBA FRSA FCIM | Drucker Laureate, Harvard Certified, Forbes Contributor
I love artists. They reveal things that we may be too scared or too polite to express ourselves. They connect us with people; and it is the people and human voice I am always trying to understand as a writer and as a marketer.
So I have a challenge for you…
Turn on your streaming audio service or your old record player or dust off that mixed tape (yes, they are making a comeback) and play Bob Dylan, or Leonard Cohen, or Joni Mitchell, or David Bowie, or Joan Baez, or Sly Stone, or Bjork, or Billy Joel.
Let one song sink in. Listen to what’s between the lyrics, the lines of poetry, the notes.
As Marketers we are called to listen to the voices of the people and what is said or left unsaid. Listening helps us become better marketers. Caring helps us become better connected with the world.
Because we can and because we care…
Being close to the human spirit means seeing beyond the obvious and hearing the silence between the notes. Muse with me as I explore the possibilities in pauses and blank canvases in all forms of art.
Space allows beauty to resonate, reverberate, and reach its full measure of expression. Without this space, noise and cacophony would result.
French composer Claude Debussy said, “Music is the space between the notes.” I love this quote: it reminds us that beauty needs a certain amount of emptiness to be appreciated. I recently heard Debussy’s Claire de Lune performed by Warren Mailley-Smith on piano at St. Mary’s Le Strand in London.
Music to my ears!
So if you need some inspiration, turn to the artists, read some poetry or throw on a Dylan album. Turn off and tune in to the beautiful words (and worlds) that our great singer-songwriters, past and present are expressing. You may just develop a better understanding of a problem to be solved or an appreciation of what your customers hold near and dear to their hearts.
Cue: “Blowin’ in the Wind” “The Times They Are A-Changin’” or “Like a Rolling Stone.”
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Esther Clark?is author and outstanding contributor to Forbes and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Follow @ClarkEsther
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Absolutely love this perspective! - Tuning into the "silence between the notes" enhances our ability to understand and connect on a deeper level ???? Inspired to explore more!
Strategy, innovation and insights consultant specializing in value propositions, NPD and customer centricity.
7 个月Very insightful connection between what's behind the lyrics of soulful artists (great list btw!) and understanding what people really feel, that they don't say. Nuggets of "whys" will always found in between the lines.