5 Ted talks on marketing that will change the way you think

TED conferences are known for their insightful and out of the box talks on many different topics. I love watching TED Talks on subjects that I don’t know much about: cutting-edge science, biology, exploration; however, I recently decided to explore a topic that know well to see if there was more to learn (as there usually is). I wasn't disappointed.

The following are 5 great Ted Talks for marketers that will make you rethink  your role as a marketer and how our current industry best-practices could be further improved. These Vids are great if you’re looking for post lunch inspiration, if you want to fire up new ideas for your marketing, or if you’re just looking for some professional development on the weekend.

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.