Marketing's Meeting of the Waters
ClickZ, 1/31/11
One of the most unusual sights and impressive natural phenomenon’s in South America is the junction of the Amazon River and its Rio Negro tributary, also known as the “meeting of waters.” The two rivers, the coffee-colored Amazon and the inky Rio Negro, actually do not merge immediately upon meeting due to the fact that they are flowing at different speeds, temperatures, and densities; rather, they co-exist side by side in the same riverbed for nearly four miles before finally merging and becoming one river that has taken on elements of both rivers.
This phenomenon is a good analogy for what’s happening in marketing today, where traditional media and marketing practices are meeting their new digital marketing counterparts (Web, e-mail, and social media), with mobile marketing being the catalyst that is bringing them together. And, like the Amazon and Rio Negro at their initial juncture, digital and traditional marketing domains have met, but haven’t yet immediately merged since they are clearly and fundamentally different. For example: