First, when they start publishing this stuff in the traditional media you have to know it is not as 'far out' as some would still insist. Here's an item — a contributed column, actually — appearing in The Appleton-Post Crescent based in Wisconsin. It's by Kathy Fredrickson. She's a small-business marketing consultant and the director of development and marketing for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh College of Business.

She's saying if the establishment old-timers in marketing today don't get with it soon — and at least indulge some of the new ideas of the up-and-coming Generation X employees — the elders will lose their leadership edge… they'll be pushed into the background. Key take away: want to stay young and relevant? Get with the program.

She offers a great line which I think perfectly summarizes the old way of doing business and how the newest generation sees it:

Gen X marketers are old enough to remember boomer mentors teaching them how to market during a time when media relations was a dialogue with reporters, photos were meticulously airbrushed by artists and the only commercials on television were crafted by agencies.

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