The Art of Marketing Toronto 2014

Last updated on March 31st, 2021 at 10:44 am

This may very well be The Art of Marketing I’ve always been waiting for. With two speakers who’ve very much shaped and influenced my life, I feel honoured as a forerunner blogger promoting the event, writing my way to a chance to shake their hands and tell them a bit about myself!

A Complex Read for a Complex Man

You may not know it, but I was a bit of a magazine junkie! Through the 2000s, I managed to collect enough of them to fill an armoire with all sorts of glossy covers, covering everything from street art and hip-hop to men’s fashion and interior design. I’d spend time at Chapters on the way home from school to leaf through the newest issues before my bus came along, invariably snagging a few to soak in through the night.

One magazine that I collected near-religiously from 2003 until almost the end of the decade was Complex — a Marc Ecko publication.

So much in Complex turned my head — the covers on both sides of the issue, needing a 180° flip to read the other side; the intense visuals with splashes of colour and clothes that really spoke to my style at the time… the magazine was a mix of hip-hop, Hollywood, vinyl toys and design. All these factors played massive parts in developing the standards I have for content creation and aesthetic layout!

So when I got the early bird email for The Art of Marketing back in February and discovered that Marc Ecko was headlining, here’s what I immediately sent to my regular PR contact for the show:

MARC ECKO?!
I’m reading that book right now.
You’ve gotta get me in!
I’ll love you forever!

Needless to say, I have a way with words, and everything worked out as it should 😊 I’ll wholeheartedly attempt to avoid making a complete fool of myself, but I make no promises!

While Complex did a lot to help define my sense of cool and the objects I’d covet, Malcolm Gladwell’s works had effects of a far more profound nature.

Finding My Tipping Point

Though Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking left me wanting more substance and less lengthy expositions, and I never made it through What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, you’ll get me to speak no ill of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference—and to a lesser extent, Outliers: The Story of Success.

Before I even knew the world of blogging, metrics and social media was a thing, I still understood that there was a rhythm to the universe that made some things cool, and though other ideas decidedly less so, even if they were just as amazing! Being the data nerd that I am (see my last post for proof), I’ve always yearned to understand what happens behind the things we experience in everyday life, and The Tipping Point was my first read in an ever-continuing study.

Gladwell explores interesting concepts—though many cast Outliers aside as sub-par, as a kid whose childhood was more likely spent on private school entrance exams and chemistry competitions than playing Red Rover with the neighbourhood kids in the park, it definitely spoke to me. The man can get long-winded, sure, but if nothing else, he piqued my interest in areas of study I wouldn’t pursue otherwise!

Why The Art of Marketing?

Putting my fanboyishness aside for a moment, though, The Art of Marketing’s the most recent offering from the team who’s provided exciting and inspiring talks from influential individuals like Biz Stone, Colin Powell and Guy Kawasaki. These last few years I’ve gone have taught me how to better study my website’s analytics; why word of mouth is better than almost any social media campaign; and the value of having a dream and sticking to it!

What you’ll experience at an event like this is new ways of thinking from speakers who decided to think outside of the box, knowing that the beaten path and stale methods will only send you the way of the dodo. It’s a day filled with tons of knowledge that’ll get you back to work feeling inspired and ready to be the change you’ve been looking for—but information this valuable doesn’t come for free.

So there. That’s it. If you don’t plan to join me at The Art of Marketing on May 28^th, I can’t help you. You’ll stay stuck in yesteryear’s thinking, left wanting for that extra push that’ll make you a better you, coming up with ideas you never even knew you had. Your life will likely turn out okay without it—but who wants to settle for okay? We all want amazing lives, and stuff like this? It helps.

And if you do plan to come, let me know! I’ll be that guy who’s as close to the stage as possible, eyes wide open and ears cleaned out. I’ll be on the edge of my seat waiting to soak it all in, ready to learn. Hey—maybe I can even save you a seat!

Hope to see you there,

[Disclaimer: In exchange for promoting the conference, The Art Of’s indeed supplied me with a complimentary ticket. However, thoughts and stories are real and my own, and you’ll never find me compromising myself for the almighty dollar. I really do love The Art of Marketing series, and hope that some of you out there can check it out for yourselves! For more information, check their site, and they’re also on Facebook and Twitter (hashtag: #TheArtOf)!]