The difference between marketing & advertising
“So, what do you do for a living?” They ask. For the lack of a more descriptive title, I answer: “I’m in advertising.” Almost always followed up by confused eyes and frowned eyebrows. I interject: “Yeah, I basically come up with cool ideas to say something about a product or service.” Inevitably followed up by raised eyebrows and expanded eyelids: “Aha, so marketing?”
No people, not quite. Let me tell you a little story about two ambitious guys called Mark & Ad.
Mark is a guy who likes to work. He is a pragmatic man, makes lists, accesses the situation and acts. He wears an ironed button-up shirt and slim-fit jeans. He usually sticks to his look because it works for him.
Then there’s Ad, He’s a thinker and a little more withheld, but he’ll often cover this fact up with clever humor and/or extraordinary gestures. He goes from worn out sneakers to Shell Cordovan leather brogues in the same day.
These guys have something in common, actually they have a lot in common; they share the same objective, but more about that later. Both guys often cross paths since they tend to operate within the same environments, but neither one of them really wants to be like the other and if they would, they definitely wouldn’t express it. Now bear with me from here.
It’s Friday night and we zoom in on this one girl in the middle of a popular nightclub. It’s dark, sticky and filled with something most people would refer to as music these days. The girl is beautiful, a real stunner and she knows it. But more than that she is streetwise, in the midst of popular culture (or counterculture).
While she’s dancing with her friends, her eyes meet those of a guy. He is standing in the back with his friends, but stands out just enough to be noticed. They share a glance, until the girl awkwardly checks her phone to break the tension. As one of her favorite songs comes on and she is about to lose it with her friends, she feels a light tap on her shoulder. She turns around and finds another young man, looking at her with eager eyes. He looks confident, and acts like it. “Hey there, I saw you from afar and thought I would introduce myse”— Now before he can finish his sentence, the girl interrupts him like he did her. “Listen, I appreciate you coming up, but I was really enjoying dancing with my friends, so do you mind if I just… continue doing that?” The guy nods with understanding and politely steps away.
As her and her friends end their routine dance, her eyes seem to instinctively wander towards the back of the club, where the group of friends are still chatting. The guy she saw before, was not there anymore. As the next song comes on, Two guys come up to the group she is standing in. She immediately recognizes one of the guys, it’s eager-eyes accompanied by another pair of hopeful eyes. “I noticed you girls were done with your song and was wondering if you’d mind if we joined for the next one. “Sure.” She responded with a polite grin. Not even 10 seconds into the song and the girl pulls away from the group and goes towards the bar. Obviously in need for a break, she takes a seat and checks her phone.
After a couple of meters through the Instagram feed, she is ready for a well deserved refreshment. Conveniently enough, the persistent guy who just approached the group with his friend is now standing next to her at the bar. “Hey listen, can I just buy you a drink? I heard one of your friends say you like a Moscow Mule?” She pauses, looks at the guy and decides to be honest: “Listen dude, I appreciate the interest, really, but, I am just not interested.” The guy smiles politely, thanks the girl for her honesty & is on his way. After all, the night is still young and this lead appears to be as cold as can be.
She finally gets the attention of the bartender and orders a Moscow Mule. The bartender goes to the other side of the bar to grab some stuff and is back within 5 minutes or so, with her cocktail. He places it gently in front of her with a coaster underneath. After she takes her first sip and wants to put her glass down, she sees there is something written on the coaster:
“Hey there, it seems like tonight you’re more into your phone than into random guys approaching you, so here you have my number. Text me whenever you’d like.
Sincerely interested,
Ad, the guy you looked at.
The girl looks around her but can’t seem to find anyone looking at her. Then she remembers, she didn’t pay for the drink yet. As the bartender walks by, she raises her arm. “Excuse me, I still need to pay for my drink and do you happen to know who wrote this?” She points at the coaster. The bartender grins and says: “It’s from a guy that just left, so is the drink by the way.”
Now you might wonder, did she call? Who knows, it’s up to her. All we know is that she met two types of guys that night. Both polite, obviously confident and with a similar objective: to earn the attention of the girl. Now it’s not my place to tell you who won, I’ll leave that up to you. But as Mark got close to the girl multiple times that evening, he never really got a chance to make her remember his name, whereas Ad, who didn’t get near her once, might have provided her with the only coaster she’ll ever take home.
Obviously it’s impossible for me to tell this story everywhere I go. Not only because it will easily start a whole new conversation, but also because it’s biased. I’m in advertising and will never admit to being anywhere near Mark, although in the end, sometimes that’s probably a little less true than I’d like it to be.
