I Would Gladly Pay You Sunday For a Meatball Today

He (marketing executive, rolling onto his back and laying a book down on his belly): Well Seth Godin has done it again. 

She (marketing agency account manager): What? Published another anecdotal book with a catchy title?  

He (shaking his head, then nodding): No, no, well, Yes, but he is getting me to rethink what my company and business is about. Maybe we should be doing something different. 

She (not really conversing, just going through the motions): So what are you doing that he thinks you should be doing differently? 

He(sounding unsure , but wondering if he is onto something): well, I seem to understand that marketing should now drive the company, but the marketing I am doing is not the right marketing? 

She (puzzled and mildly annoyed): Mmmm. So what does that mean? 

He (scratching his figurative head): well, I guess my company should become a business where we find customers and then figure out what to sell to them. But I am not sure how to go about that. We have always first produced product and then found the customers. From what I am reading here, it seems that “attention being revenue” is more important than the product. Do customers care more about being listened to than they care about what they are buying? 

She (a little alarmed, sits up and lays down her kindle and lifts her reading glasses to her forehead):   Ok, Ok, you have my attention now. Listen. Finding customers for you has always been my job. (she turns to him and runs her fingers through his chest hair)You like the way I do it. It lets you focus on all the other things you have going on. After all, I am the expert on messaging, databases, demographics and even the Web 2.0 crap. You need to rely on me to manage this for you (she purrs nuzzling his neck and shows him a few reports indicating possible branding results and their relation to user personas eventually taking some sort of action). 

He (beginning to whiteboard in his mind and sweat in his palms): You mean you could help me figure out how I could be the one to run the company? A bold vision where we can dedicate all our resources to figuring out what works and not worry about making it work? 

She (smiling as her hand strokes his wallet): Honey, you know I know how to do it for you. Haven’t I always? 

He (his budget now engorged with funds and feeling a massive project coming on): Oh baby, who’s your Daddy? 

Huge but hardly noticeable Monster in the closet (whispering): I wish the two of you would hurry up, screw each other and go to sleep so that I can get out of this closet , raid the fridge and log onto Second Life.