TED conferences are known for their intriguing and outside-the-box talks on just about every topic. I often watch TED Talks on subjects that I don’t know much about: cutting-edge science, psychology, exploration; however, I recently decided to explore a topic that I’m well-versed in to see if the talks inspire the same insight and contemplation. I wasn’t disappointed. The following are 5 fantastic Ted Talks for marketers that will make you stop and think about your role as a marketer and how current industry-wide marketing strategies and best-practices could be further improved. These clips are great if you’re looking for mid-day inspiration, if you want to expose yourself to different perspectives on marketing, or if you’re just looking for something interesting to watch on the weekend. Check them out and let me know what you think!

1. Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread

Seth Godin is a successful entrepreneur and a well-known name in the marketing world. This video provides insight into the world of marketing and reveals Godin’s simple recipe for how marketers can get their ideas to spread. What are the characteristics of businesses that receive traction and what is the psychology behind why people are pulled to certain brands over others? Godin answers these questions and more.

2. Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

In this short 5 minute clip, Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), discusses the story of Greenpeace’s Mister Splashy Pants humpback whale campaign and how it made a big impact on social media. Ohanian uses this example as a metaphor for how any company can make an impact on social media.

3. Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing

Dan Cobley is the Director of Marketing at Google and he is passionate about both marketing and physics. In this Ted Talk, he brings these two differing subjects together and explains how the principles of physics have taught him a lot about marketing.

4. Kevin Allocca: Why videos go viral

With 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, Kevin Allocca’s task as the Trends Manager of YouTube is to watch and understand which videos go viral and why. According to Allocca, taste makers, communities of participation, and unexpectedness are the 3 characteristics of videos that go viral.

5. Morgan Spurlock: The greatest TED Talk ever sold

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (the man behind Super Size Me), discusses the world of brand marketing as he experienced it throughout his quest to make a sponsored film about sponsorship. Through an entertaining and humourous presentation, Spurlock discusses his experience of approaching brands to sponsor his film and hones in on the significant of transparency.

About the Author

After graduating from the HBA program at the Richard Ivey School of Business, Aaliyah launched her career as Marketing Coordinator at Uberflip! Prior to her HBA, Aaliyah also completed a Bachelor in English at Western University.

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