How marketing lost its purpose — and how to find it again
Something strange has happened to marketing.
For an industry built on creativity, curiosity, and human connection, it has become oddly mechanical. Campaigns feel formulaic. Messages blur into sameness. Teams talk more about conversion rates than about conviction. Somewhere along the way, meaning quietly left the room.
We are now living through what I call the meaning recession. It’s not about the lack of budget or resources — it’s about the absence of depth.
When everything is optimised, nothing feels alive
Modern marketing runs on data. We can measure every click, track every view, and automate every touchpoint. On paper, this looks like progress. In practice, it often drains the life out of what we do.
Optimisation rewards what is efficient, not what is meaningful. It tells us which button colour performs best, but not whether the message behind it deserves to be heard.
The irony is that people aren’t craving more marketing — they’re craving more meaning. They don’t need another ad telling them to buy; they need a reason to care.
From attention to intention
In the early days of digital marketing, attention was the most valuable currency. Now, it’s the most overvalued. Every brand is shouting louder, chasing fleeting seconds of visibility. But attention without intention is empty — it doesn’t build trust, loyalty, or connection.
The next era of marketing belongs to those who shift their focus from grabbing attention to inspiring intention. It’s about helping people see how your brand fits into their world, their problems, and their values.
The return to meaning
Bringing meaning back doesn’t require grand rebranding exercises. It starts with simple questions:
Why are we communicating this?
Who does it genuinely serve?
Would we still say this if it didn’t drive immediate sales?
Meaning emerges when your marketing aligns with your values, when you speak to real people rather than personas, and when you choose depth over speed. It’s slower, yes — but infinitely more powerful.
Finding clarity in a crowded world
If your marketing feels scattered or hollow — if you’re producing more but achieving less — the problem might not be performance. It might be purpose.
Clarity and focus are antidotes to the meaning recession. When your strategy is grounded in purpose, every message carries more weight and every campaign makes more sense.
If you want to bring that focus back — to reconnect your marketing with meaning, direction, and strategy — let’s talk.