Welcome back to Marketoonist, the cartoon I’ve been hand-drawing to poke fun at marketing and business nearly every week since 2002. Was this email forwarded to you? Please subscribe here.

Content about Content about Content

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I drew this week's cartoon inspired by today's content overload and the circular creator economy.

When I left college in the 90s, I moved to Prague and found a job at Velvet, an English-language magazine for the booming but close-knit expat scene.

At that strange time when Eastern Europe opened up, there were more than 20 different English-language newspapers and magazines in Prague catering to the same small audience.

We used to joke that someday there would be a different English-language magazine for every English speaking expat. Ironically the final issue of Velvet before it folded was a guide to all the English media in Prague.

That was my first experience with content overload.

Mark Schaefer originated the concept of "Content Shock," which he described as "the emerging marketing epoch when exponentially increasing volumes of content intersect our limited human capacity to consume it.”

Today everyone can be a creator. And the creator tools are all pushing all forms of multimedia all at once. The platform algorithms reward constant posting and repackaging content across channels. AI tools make it possible for digital avatars to pick up the slack even further.

And yet, I like the caution of how P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard once described the situation of trying to keep up with exponentially increasing volumes of content. He said, “we fell into the content crap trap.”

Keynote Update

I’m just back from a keynote speaking trip in 3 cities in Texas and Wisconsin, including one at the legendary Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. It was so great to meet so many of you in person at Dot Innovations and Experience Inbound.

Next up, I’m headed to Mexico City in a few weeks to speak at IAB Conecta.

As always, please let me know if you’d like to talk about any events you’re planning (or know of) that you think could be a good fit for some cartoon levity and insight.

For an idea of my approach to keynotes, here’s a sneak peak at a 5-minute speaker’s reel I’m working on (not finished yet):

Cartoon From The Archives

Here’s a related cartoon I drew in 2017. And here’s where you can read and search all 24 years of these cartoons.

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Thank you for all of your support (and cartoon material)!

-Tom

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About Marketoonist

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of me, Tom Fishburne. I first started drawing cartoons as a student in the Harvard Business School newspaper (not quite as well-known for humor as the Lampoon) and later started this newsletter from a General Mills cubicle in 2002. The cartoons have followed my career ever since. I poke fun at the ever-changing world of marketing and business because I believe that laughing at ourselves can help us do our best work.