I do believe that Will.i.am should be considered the marketer of 2009.

Of course, marketing begins with product, and we could certainly question the quality of the Black Eyed Peas’ music, but here’s what I know… Will.i.am, Fergie and MCs, Apl.de.ap and Taboo deliver something that people want.  The Peas have been at the top of Billboard Hot 100 for over 24 weeks, by far the longest No. 1 run in the chart’s 51-year history.

What they with music is best described by Jody Rosen in Rolling Stone magazine, “They have made a kind of spiritual practice of recording dumb songs- a total aesthetic commitment that extends from their garish wardrobes to their United Colors of Benetton worldview.”  But, beyond the product, and at the same time inseparable from it, is Will.i.am’s understanding of today’s social-marketing world.

Most brands are still grappling like junior high kids on a first date with the most fundamental shift of the last decade… from marketer as message-pusher to marketer as creator of stuff that consumers will actually pull toward them.  The Black Eyed Peas, having mastered that shift, are showing an understanding of perhaps the second-most important change:  from campaign to continuous conversation.

Consumers don’t switch on and off, and products don’t sell for two weeks and then disappear from retail channels.  But, most marketers still do the vast majority of their work in sporadic bursts, often going whole quarters, if not years between one one-way push and the next.  However, the Peas do it differently.  Their 2009 album, “The END,” was not only a nice sales gimmick (playing off the rumors that Fergie is going entirely solo and thus making “whirled peas”), but also a brand statement.  “The END” stands for The Energy Never Dies and the idea is that it’s a live, evolving, co-created piece of work.  A conversation with fans.

“It’s a diary… of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it,” Will.i.am told Billboard.com.  “When it comes out, there’ll be 12 songs on it, but the next day there could be 100 songs, 50 sketches, 1,000 blogs all (online) around ‘The END,’ so the energy really, truly never dies.  I’m trying to break away from the concept of ALBUM.  What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs?  That’s not an album.  There is no album anymore.”

Exactly… there’s collaboration and conversation and content creation.

Excerpted from Jonah Bloom’s column in September 21, 2009 issue of Advertising Age.

For more than 100 years, marketing has largely operated as a push paradigm.  We create messages and funnel them through the media to reach stakeholders.

Push remains a viable option.  However, with time on social networking sites and search engines rising, we need new ways to engage and reach people multiple times across different sources.  That, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, is when consumers will trust what we have to say.  That’s what the “power of pull” is all about.

The greatest rewards will go to those who create dynamic content at regular intervals (note I didn’t say “daily” necessarily… just a regular schedule that readers can set their clock by)– content that is discussed, remixed and linked to by other high-quality sources online.

Here are three considerations for tapping into the power of pull:

1. Create resources that inform the conversation: When it comes to information, consumers will increasingly have a general high-level awareness of things they don’t care about.  However, they will go deep into their pockets for passionate connections.  Brands can stand out and be more engaging by becoming “digital curators” in a given niche… and doing it well.
2. Adopt rather than invent:    Although it offers a lot of reward, creating content is real work.  Smart companies are finding digital assets that consumers are already using, remixing it, and/or partnering with its creators to give it further lift.
3. Write for searchers, not just readers:   Most of us still write for readers.  But, in the pull economy, we also need to write for searchers.  One way to think of it is that Googlers are looking for “how to get rid of roaches,” not necessarily for “bug spray.”

Finally, look at using Google Trends and Twitter Trends to learn how people express themselves, and map your language accordingly.  That’s the power of pull.

Excerpted from Steve Rubel’s “On Digital” column in September 7, 2009, edition of Advertising Age