Marketing Has Taken a Back Seat

July 21, 2025

Good morning! The Brits have had their three weeks in the spotlight — and now, who is next? It’s almost always about perception — and perception slowly but surely becomes reality. Logic, though based upon facts, will almost always lose out to emotion. Why is that? Because we’re humans. And, except for the psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists, emotions are a big part of who we are and how we function with and among each other. Maybe the artificial intelligence robots won’t have the same problem. Related:  Have you ever tried to dial 9-1-1 when you’re in the middle of trauma?  You can practice beforehand, but you can’t simulate emotional trauma.

• Will Battle Creek, Michigan ever be grrrreat again?
  • Kellogg Foods (Corn Flakes, Froot Loops, Sugar Frosted Flakes, Pop Tarts, Etc.) has been purchased by Ferrero Chocolates (Italy).  Yes, that Ferrero.
  • If you haven’t been getting enough sugar with your morning cereal,  languish no longer as you can mix your Nutella with your flakes and still feel grrrreat.
  • BTW, treat yourself to the Pop Tarts movie (Unfrosted, 2024)… very clever, filled with ages 60+ humor most younger people would miss.  Hilarious!
  • I would never watch anything twice and I would watch Unfrosted twice — or thrice.
• In the areas where I live and work there has been a proliferation of traffic circles in recent years.
  • Also known as Round-a-bouts, these engineering marvels funnel traffic coming from multiple directions and,
  • like an atom ridding itself of electrons, effortlessly flings the vehicles from its epicenter to a variety of new directions.
  • Occasionally, an inexperienced driver will find himself or herself stuck forever on the inner ring of the circle with little hope of escape.
  • Other parts of the world have had these traffic circles for a century or more, but they are relatively new here in the U.S.; we have preferred semaphores, left-turn lanes, and/or cloverleafs.
  • Why all of this chit chat about Round-a-bouts?
    • They spawn tornadoes.  That’s right, tornadoes.
    • Something about the centrifugal forces flinging those vehicles from the epicenters of the thousands of new traffic circles creates a variety of meteorological forces previously undiagnosed.
    • Wonder why there are more tornadoes than 30 years ago?  Look no further than the proliferation of traffic circles.
• Our tiny little native prairie patch brings great joy at this time of year, not only for us, but for the bees and hordes of other swarming insects.
• Humans have been eating wild-caught salmon and organically-grown vegetables for thousands of years…
  • … and so far, 100% of them have died.
• Book:  Fedarko’s, A Walk in the Park.  (The Colin Fletcher sequel.)
  • Another good one, it IS summer, after all:  Gugliotta’s, Grant’s Enforcer.
    • (Isn’t it interesting how Grant’s stock has been rising and continues to rise?)
• According to the Greek philosopher, Plato, governments naturally evolve and progress:
  1. Rule by the best
  2. Rule by those reputed to be the best
  3. Rule by the rich
  4. Rule by democracy
  5. Rule by tyranny  (Plato – 428-348 B.C.E. = 80 years old — and then along comes Aristotle)
• Marketing has taken a back seat in many organizations, counter-intuitively, it is almost always the first thing to get cut — and then the sales team is next.
  • Why, oh why?!
  • Only seventy percent of CEOs believe marketing is understood by everyone in the C-Suite… down from 90% just two years ago.
  • When everyone is responsible for acquiring customers and driving growth, no one is.  It’s a common issue.
  • The solution to this is right under the CEO’s nose:
  • Pull the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) back to the center,
  • have this person align with the CFO, and get everyone moving in the same direction.
  • …the disconnect between marketing and other parts of business is growing wider.  (Bettali, Etc., et al., 2025)
  • Marketing used to be the growth engine of every company.
  • It championed the customer, demanding that CEOs focus on who was most important.
  • Marketing was responsible for everything the customer touched, saw, bought, and felt.
  • It was the big integrator across an organization, bringing together different disciplines to focus on one thing:  the customer.  (Ibid.)