The old Babylonian king of the gods, Marduk, was born in a time of great crisis. The embodiment of the primordial chaos, Tiamat, had turned against the other gods, threatening to destroy them all. The breakdown of culture and order with chaos as a substitute. Enter our hero.

Marduk was born whole, strong and beautiful with 4 eyes and 4 ears, and it is said that hespat fire when he spoke. The embodiment of what was believed to be powerful in man.

Heightened ability to hear, heightened ability to observe and heightened ability to speak.

Revered for his athleticism and abilities, best amongst the gods, he was asked by his father to confront the monster of Tiamat. Marduk thought about it. What if something went wrong? What if he was captured and killed? Would the risk of the unknown be worth the potential reward?

A deal was struck between the gods and Marduk. If he was successful at slaying the mighty Tiamat, they would make him their king.

Marduk set off against the unknown, fighting demons and dragons left and right to get to Tiamat. The final battle raged for days with Marduk getting the upper hand in the end, ripping Tiamat in two.

With one part he created the heavens and with the other earth.

Marduk, the great creator.

How to be a great creator. How to be a Marketing Marduk

• Have 4 ears (listen): Heighten your ability to listen to your existing customers, potential customers and employees from other parts of the organisation. For commercial leaders this means allocating time and resources to regularly meet with external stakeholders to understand their pains, interests and concerns and spot new marketing opportunities. It means inviting people from sales into your marketing meetings to share their experiences and asking to be invited into R&D meetings to understand the products and solutions better.

• Have 4 eyes (observe): Heighten your ability to observe the market and how your company is interacting with it. For commercial leaders this means analysing industry development and trends and using social media monitoring on selected keywords and clients to gauge behaviour and act swiftly, when the right opportunity is there.

• Speak fire (Communicate): Heighten your ability to communicate in was that engages your target audience. For commercial leaders this means creating, distributing -and engaging around content that resonate with buyer personas pains, interests and concerns.

• Confront the unknown (Dare to fail): Heighten your ability to confront the risky unknown and test things outside your knowledge and comfort zone. For commercial leaders this means setting up a system for experimenting with different marketing activities, content types, distribution forms etc. to constantly create new ways of creating value. 

Daring to confront the unknown is the hallmark of a hero, the defining characteristic of great creators and what all marketers should aspire for.

Listen, observe, speak and act like the god of gods. Be a Marketing Marduk.