I didn't get where I am today...

In Big Red Moose parlance, CJ is a term given to the owner or senior manager within an organisation who under no circumstances could countenance the notion that marketing ideas other than his/her own could possibly have any merit at all.

Let me explain. CJ was Reggie Perrin’s boss – 1970’s series for the younger ones, and still worth checking out – who’s catchphrase was “I didn’t get where I am today by …..”- fill in the blanks as appropriate. The trouble is, I understand why they are like that.

If confronted by a graduate fresh out of a media studies degree course who wasn’t even a twinkle in his daddy’s eye when the business was started and who has said that ‘you’re doing it all wrong; social media is the way forward’, you can hardly blame our CJ for his next comment being; “I’ll get your coat”.

There is much junk – or bull, as we tend to refer to it – spouted about marketing by many of its proponents. That, for Big Red Moose, is a blessing because we don’t spout it, yet a curse as we are inevitably tarred with the same brush unless we can differentiate ourselves from the greasy norm which, alas, isn’t always possible.

Happily, we have a growing number of organisations who appreciate our stance of non-bull, and are enjoying the fruits of our labours. However, some of them took a lot of persuading which should prick the conscience of the marketing industry as a whole.