Marketing 101

I just gave a talk to a large marketing class at UCSC. My presentation outlined the specific process we use to identity the authentic core of a brand concept. I didn’t end up where I’d planned, however. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking about all the great young entrepreneurs I’ve met, like Freddy Shilling who started Dagoba Chocolate and Josh Onysko of Pangea, They were about the age of the students in this class, when they started their garage manufacturing operations. I wound up encouraging the group not to think like marketeers but more like fearless entrepreneurs with crazy ideas.