Me, Myself & Bob

If you'd like a quick read about the story of a creative individual who started a media empire, only to have it dramatically crumble within a short few years, give Me, Myself & Bob a try.

Written by Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, the book dramatically illustrates why a business dies without a healthy balance of creativity and fiscal discipline.

This week, catalogers attending NEMOA heard industry veteran Bill LaPierre apparently criticize the purveyors of paper for a lack of creativity in their marketing activities.

I fear that catalog and (especially) online marketing creativity is being smothered by technology. Fiscal discipline is better than it was during the go-go days of the internet bubble. Creatively, we're struggling.

A business leader recently told me it would take eighteen months for the technology team to make the appropriate changes to the website so that the creative team could present merchandise the way the creative team wanted to present merchandise.

And if the pundits are right, if we have to integrate marketing, merchandising and creative strategies in our online and catalog channels, then the whole darn thing hinges on our ability to integrate the technology folks, creative folks, and marketing folks.

That's not an easy thing to do.