Lee Clow Battles Gary Vaynerchuk For Future of Advertising

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Mullen Chief Creative Officer Edward Boches, with ten round, blow-by-blow coverage, pits two great marketing forces, Lee Clow against Gary Vaynerchuk, against one another in a battle of the past versus the future. Examining each contender's claim to fame, approach to marketing, book publishing efforts, awards, Google juice, Twitter followers and other qualities, the fight ends in a draw.

Regarding Twitter follwers, Boches writes, "Lee Clow: Zero. Lee Clow's Beard, 19. He's a legend; he doesn't need Twitter. Gary Vaynerchuk: 540,000. You can argue who cares, but round nine goes to Gary."

Regarding quotability, Boches writes, "Lee Clow: "We're not in the advertising business, we're in the media arts business. We're using all forms of media to tell a brand story-and the media is everything a brand does." Huh? Gary Vaynerchuk: "People are always talking about what you're doing now... To me, it's not what you're doing now, it's about where you're going." Round ten goes to Gary."

So which will it be? Good old-fashioned, time-tested advertising or this new-fangled social media shit?

by Steve Hall    May-14-09   Click to Comment   
Topic: Agencies, Good, Strange, Trends and Culture   

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Comments



Comments

So far Lee is winning. Not by a knockout, but it turns out that people think that Lee's track record dominates. Duh. However, a lot of others think the future just might belong to the Gary's, or that the next Lee might come from that new space. Time will tell. In the meantime, ad folks can do what they do best, rant, speculate, exaggerate.

Posted by: edward on May 14, 2009 4:03 PM

I am flattered by the comparison and will work my butt off over the next several decades to make sure I was worthy of it!

Posted by: Gary Vaynerchuk on May 14, 2009 6:17 PM

Oh I know you will, Gary. From what I've witnessed (having seen you speak several times), you are well poised, as you say, to "kill it." :)

Posted by: Steve Hall on May 14, 2009 7:19 PM

You're kidding about this. Right?

Posted by: stu sutcliffe on May 14, 2009 9:26 PM