Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.

BY: WARREN TOMLIN  |  General Rambling, Online Marketing, The Future

I’m not entirely sure where this one is going to go - so please bear with me. Mike and I were recently on an academic panel presenting to some professors with some interesting and senior people from some of the more traditional channels (newspaper, television and radio) and it was an interesting discussion. As one of the “Internet guys” or “Online media experts” I was a bit shocked and saddened by the conversation.

I was shocked because, the conversation was…great! But at the same time very sad. It was great because we had some serious dialog on the strengths and shortcomings of a each particular medium/channel, and some fairly lengthy sparring over the what the future of each held. (During every break Mike kept whispering to me that he was going to say: “the only thing the newspaper will be used for in 5 years will be to start a fire”. While I didn’t necessarily disagree, it would have been too rude - and the guy was pretty big!)

What I was most sad about was the stickwithitness that all three of my panelists possessed. And not in a good way. While I commend and admire those proud of the company or industry they work for, these guys were just riding it out. So as to say: “Not on my watch.” “Not my problem.” “It’s all good.” “Not gonna happen.” Well, I’m here to say: “It will, and it is.” That’s where I became most concerned of a medium’s ability to overly fall in love with itself - to romanticize a position, to over assert a strength. It’s like a traditional channel’s variation on Barney’s. “I love you. You love me.” Except you don’t love me? Really? Ok. “I love me. I love me”.

And its where I came up with this. It is so painfully simple, and I suppose, simply painful to hear. CHANGE BEFORE YOU HAVE TO. It really is that simple. I wish it had a better hook, a better catch - but it really is that easy. I guess at the end of the day, Mark Twain had it right. Sacred cows make the best hamburgers!