It’s a sad thing that to many, the word marketing has never felt like a word about people or the imagination. To some, marketing is the 2am drunk slumped against the window of the limousine: the lost soul vomiting over the tinted window of the successful business visionary.

Imagination seems hidden beneath a pile of papers and legislation. Somewhere along the way leaders grew fearful of inventiveness, of creation and laughter. Through the cracks of this fear words like marketing morphed from essential business practice to unnecessary bubble wrapping. Greed replaced love. The need for profit at all costs suffocated the original magic of brand storytelling. There was a time when visionaries were less focused on pleasing shareholders and more interested in making beautiful work, and work beautiful. The most successful content marketing today is still about creating amazing content, and then sharing it with the world.

When HBO needed a marketing campaign for the first season of True Blood they sent vials of blood to popular horror bloggers, which led bloggers to a website where vampires were privately discussing whether they should reveal themselves to the world. None of this mentioned the TV programme. By creating a complex back story, True Blood became one of HBOs most anticipated shows ever.

The word marketing deserves a better reputation. More so when the truth is that content marketing is really all about offering to receive, not finding the neck of clients, taking a bite and then sucking them dry.

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