What is tactification?
Tactification is the obsession with execution at the expense of strategy. It's the belief that marketing is nothing more than a collection of tactical activities: social posting, blimp flying, and yes, painting international monuments orange.
It's throwing pasta at the wall every minute and hoping a couple of noodles stick. That doesn’t make dinner ready faster; it just makes a mess.
The problem isn't that tactics are unimportant. They matter enormously. The problem is the sequence of events. When tactics come first, they become noise without direction. When strategy comes first, tactics become precision instruments.
Ritson points out that roughly 70% of American marketers have no formal marketing training. Most stumble into the profession from the consumer side and assume the discipline is just an array of activities to execute. They see the tip of the spear and mistake it for the entire weapon.
The result? Marketers are left with recycled “thought leadership” posts, cookie-cutter ABM plays, and endless social posts that are vanity projects—not needle movers.
A mirror we’d rather not look into
The brilliance of the Marty Supreme promo video isn't just that it's funny. It's that it's uncomfortably accurate.
Watch the agency team's faces as Chalamet pitches his ideas. They don't push back. They don't ask questions. They don't probe whether painting the Statue of Liberty orange will actually drive ticket sales or simply generate headlines that fade by Monday.
They nod. They smile. They say “very powerful.”
This is tactification operating in its purest form: a room full of people approving activities without questioning outcomes.
Consider what's missing from the thankfully fictional call.
No target audience. Who is this movie for? Arthouse film enthusiasts? Mainstream moviegoers? Sports fans drawn to the ping-pong angle? Chalamet never says, and no one asks.
No positioning. What should people think or feel about Marty Supreme? Is it a prestige drama? A crowd-pleaser? An awards contender? The brand identity remains undefined.
No KPIs. What does success look like? Opening weekend box office numbers? Awards buzz? Cultural conversation? Streaming performance after theatrical release? Without clear goals, there's no way to measure whether orange-painted monuments actually moved the needle.
No roadmap. The tactics exist in isolation, disconnected from any broader framework or system. A Wheaties box, international landmarks, and a meditation session don't add up to a plan. They're just an expensive shopping list.
No “Big Idea.” There’s no core creative concept that has legs and truly communicates something distinct and memorable about your brand across touchpoints and audiences for a long period of time.
The video went viral because audiences recognized the absurdity. But here's the uncomfortable truth: The response from actual marketers suggested many saw themselves in that call. Some laughed in recognition. Others cringed at how closely it mirrored their own conference rooms. The line between satire and documentary turned out to be thinner than anyone wanted to admit.
Unlock growth without boundaries
Need region-specific fresh eggs and flying lessons? Learn more about BBN, the agency that unites co-pilots from all corners of the sky.