Slow Down

Do you want a fast, but cold Arby's sandwich?

Ian Truscott
April 28, 2025

Welcome to The Beat by Rockstar CMO. I’m Ian Truscott, a CMO, trusted advisor, strategy consultant, and Chief Bottle Washer at Rockstar CMO. In this newsletter, I’d like to share a mix of what’s caught my eye, topics from our podcast, and our street knowledge blog.

Hello!

This week on the podcast, I had an interesting chat with Robert Rose about slowing down marketing. If you are familiar with the Rose and Rockstar episodes, the conversations are relatively short, and I thought I’d explore this idea a little more here.

Robert has written a piece for the Content Marketing Institute blog that was slightly tongue-in-cheek, as he called it slow-motion marketing (SloMoMa) as a reaction against being AI-driven to do more and faster.

In his article, he picks on the notion of “vibe marketing” that cool kids have started to talk about. This concept suggests that AI-driven automation can replace traditional marketing teams by letting the robots generate and optimize campaigns autonomously.

Robert argues that this approach overlooks the inherently human aspects of marketing, such as creativity, emotional resonance, and, I would add, originality and differentiation, as these machines only know what’s been done before.

Plus, Robert has been talking about strategic friction; that meaningful engagement arises from thoughtful, deliberate efforts that build trust and provoke reflection, rather than from frictionless, automated interactions. By advocating for "slow-motion marketing," Robert encourages marketers to embrace the nuanced, human-centered processes that foster genuine connections with audiences.

My question on the podcast was: Do we need to do things faster? Are our consumers asking for more from us? Where is this drive for doing more and faster coming from? Is the call coming from inside the house?

You can find a TON of commentary that would say that Robert’s idea is bonkers; they say, of course, we need to speed everything up, be more efficient, do more, and crank the handle faster.

And yes, I agree we need to get to value as quickly as we can, but that’s not the same as doing more, faster and probably shittier marketing.

In my research, to join Robert in swimming against the tide of the hustle, I came across a fabulous article from Top Ranking Marketing that includes a bunch of quotes, including from William McEwen’s book, Married to the Brand:

“a cold, tasteless sandwich from Arby’s isn’t going to yield a happy customer, no matter how fast it’s delivered”

And as the article concludes:

There’s no time clock ticking down on your B2B marketing strategy. Obviously we have deadlines and time-sensitive objectives, but in many cases we’re probably placing undue constraints on our programs that take a negative toll on results.

So, this week we are getting our Monday marketing mojo working by slowing down, and the obvious track for that for me, to give this email its subject line is Loose Ends - Slow Down.

I would love to hear from you, either on your thoughts on the topic or on my taste in music!

Thanks for reading this far, and until next week.

Cheers!

Ian

Ian Truscott | Chief Bottle Washer Rockstar CMO

Please say hello by replying to this email or stop by our website.

PS - Marketing Profs invited me to do a webinar - be splendid if you could join.

Content Marketing Friday Forum

More content, fewer resources—that's the drumbeat of content marketing today. Discover how to work smarter, not harder, by multiplying your content's impact, getting more from your martech, and creating content that meets the C-suite's goals. Free event.

www.marketingprofs.com/event/52935/content-marketing-friday-forum?adref=oim250424all04

This week’s street knowledge

From the community, what caught my eye and a bit more from me…

Slow-Motion Marketing is the Antidote to Vibe Marketing - Robert Rose

Is vibe marketing just another coding framework needlessly applied to marketing? Robert Rose of the Content Marketing Institute says slow-motion marketing makes more sense. Here’s how to do it.

contentmarketinginstitute.com/strategy-planning/vibe-marketing

B2B Marketers: Here’s Why You Should Slow Your Roll - Top Rank

The world is moving faster than ever, but B2B marketers are wise to slow down with their experiences, strategies, SEO, and social media efforts.

www.toprankmarketing.com/blog/slow-down-b2b-marketing

Why Businesses Should Embrace Slow Marketing - Nancy Erickson

Not a blog I was familiar with before I started this research, but some solid points and links to more research.

thebookprofessor.com/why-businesses-should-embrace-slow-marketing

Slow Marketing: How to Deliver Faster Results by Slowing Down - Ann Handley

Marketing Strategy - In our fast-paced, always-on, agile, want-it-yesterday, mile-a-minute world... there is a critical need to slow down. Why? Because doing so allows you to achieve real results—faster.

www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2016/30657/slow-marketing-how-to-deliver-faster-results-by-slowing-down