http://www.amazon.com/Punk-Marketing-Your-Join-Revolution/dp/0061151106 No, it is not by the Vinyl of the Dead Kennedy’s that I still keep (someone out there remembers the “Frankenchrist” and “In Gog we Trust, Inc?”), by the VHS (yep, I still have vinyil, k7, VHS). Although I still lived a “remake” of punk, my adolescence was marked by the end of 80 (Cure, Smiths, Echo & the bunnymen, Durutti Column, the initial phase of 4AD, etc.).

I refer only to the book “Punk Marketing” that I recently bought and for proving that the more I deepen some “conventional” marketing knowledge more reinforcement than: “It’s not the things that are complicated, we complicate them.” Is it that despite the value of everything that the “smarts” say – from Trout to McKenna, Kotler... what - is not all about the customer?

Today, to conquer a consumer it is not enough to create “processes” of Marketing. You have to treat the customer with respect. Challenge him! Treat him intelligently. How clever. The Customer loves to be “stuck” or amused. And... the customer can! The client has power!

Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons, authors of the book, analyze this new reality of the market of advertising, brands, communication and the need to get rid of the “ Status quo ” and the “Radical quo ” and wrote a simple set of rules for a common sense-based marketing without “ bullshits”. I’m not very fond of “transcriptions” or “translations” but perhaps because I’ve lived a part of Punk culture (in music) and because I’m seeing myself in “no bullshit”, I think it’s worth sharing the Punk Marketing Manifesto:

1. If you don't risk it, you die In times of change the biggest risk of all is not taking risks.

2. Why not ask: “Why not?” Presupposed are just that. All we assume is usually a half-truth or generalization that at some point had a purpose, but now... castrates creative solutions.

3. Takes a firm position Trying to be everything for everyone inevitably results in almost nothing.

4. Not given Customers are important but not necessarily right.

5. Quits control Consumers now control brands. Smart marketers know and live with this, instead of fighting an unavoidable truth.

6. Make yourself visible. Expose yourself It creates trust relationships. The trust relationship between brand and consumer, as between people, is based on honesty.

7. Creates enemies All brands need to be positioned as an alternative.

8. Makes them want more It is important to resist the temptation to reveal all assets at once. As the masters would say: “Never teach them everything you know. Teach them everything they know!”

9. Be smarter than the competition Be smarter than the guy next door. Don't get carried away by the easy money and don't try to compete by spending more than the others.

**10. Don't be seduced by technology. The middle is no longer the message. The message is the message.

11. Know yourself If we don't understand what we're good at, we might be tempted to try to be something we're not.

**12. No more marketing bullshit. Get to the point. Express it in a clear and simple way. Einstein said - we believe that directed to the Merceteers: “Things should be done as simple as possible, but not in a simple way”

**13. Don't let them define your standards. Being good doesn't mean much anymore, while being mediocre can do you more harm than doing absolutely nothing.

14. Use the tools of revolution Write your own manifesto. Remember these articles when you lack imagination.

**15....?. This is where we can all help. Today, everything has to do with interaction and not definition, so define what should be the last article.

P.S.: This post made me go listen to ancient vinyl... I started by ( re ) listening to “ California Uber Alles ” :)