Comment:  10 year-old ‘Cluetrain Manifesto’ provides insights for communicators and marketers 

Published June - July 2008

By Grant Common, Managing Director - Network PR

The pace of change has accelerated more over the past 30 years than ever before in the history of the world.  Change has washed over us like a giant tsunami. But not just once - the waves of change just keep on coming.

Over this period there have been some visionaries. The issue is that we don’t often recognise many of these visionaries until much later.  They look at the world through the eyes of ‘what is possible?’  Our vision is often blurred because we can’t look past ‘how is it now?’ 

Bill Gates obviously stands as the supreme example. There were very few who could see what he could see looking to the future. 

On the business front others have come along and made impacts - to varying degrees. Michael Porter, the Harvard professor, made businesses rethink in the 80’s with his views on competitive behaviour. And Al Ries’ questioning of the advertising model that marketers had used without question made many think. But they were mere tidal waves compared to Gates.

Ten years ago, in May 1998, something happened that many, including myself, didn’t pay an awful lot of attention to. Four web denizens pulled together a document called ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto’ which contained 95 ‘theses’ (also called sniggers and comments!).

But for communicators and marketers it really was as revolutionary as some of Gates’ predictions and pronouncements.  And looking at it 10 years later much of what it contained has proved to be very insightful.

Rather than highlight any of my favourites, I suggest you spend 15 mins going through the list of 95.  There will be many you, like I, won’t agree with or ‘get’, but I will be very surprised if you can’t get a dozen that resonate with you.

As communicators and marketers, we need to be advocates for doing things differently. If only we had taken ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto’ more seriously when it was published ten years ago!

Network PR, publishers of PR Influences, is the first Australian pr agency to provide online pr, including search engine optimisation. Contact Network PR to find out how you can integrate online pr into your communications mix by starting with an Online Health Assessment.