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What would a marketing agency run by Jeff Bezos look like?

Imagining a Jeff Bezos-led marketing agency 30 years after founding Amazon

Last edited on:

Jul 30, 2024

Author:

Jordy Oost

Marketing Bezos - A marketing agency by jeff bezos

This month marks 30 years since Amazon was founded. At that time, a 30-year-old Jeff Bezos decided to start an internet company from his garage.

With a background in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton, he followed his passion for technology by launching an internet business.

But what if Jeff Bezos were 30 today, shared the same interests in marketing, and started a marketing agency instead?

Ever since reading Crypto Bezos in 2021, writing this article was on my to-do list. Listening to the Lex Fridman Podcast #405 (recommended!) motivated me to explore Jeff Bezos's entrepreneurial background in depth.

The result is this article.

This month marks 30 years since Amazon was founded. At that time, a 30-year-old Jeff Bezos decided to start an internet company from his garage.

With a background in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton, he followed his passion for technology by launching an internet business.

Early Bezos Philosophy

When skimming through podcasts and interviews with a young Jeff Bezos, a few consistent themes emerge that he would likely focus on today:

Using technology to create new services: Bezos utilized technology, such as data and the internet, at a time when these tools weren't widely used. He referred to this period as “new category formation time,” where businesses can capitalize on minimal competition to establish market leadership.

"New category formation time" is the period when a new market or industry emerges, allowing businesses to capitalise on minimal competition and establish market leadership.

Customer obsessed: The needs and satisfaction of the customer were central to everything Bezos did. Customer value came first; everything else followed.

"Customer obsessed" means placing the customer's needs and satisfaction at the core of everything a business does. It involves relentlessly focusing on creating value for customers, understanding their needs, and continuously improving the customer experience.

A central role for technology across all divisions: Bezos saw technology as core to his business strategy. This led to developing internal recommendation algorithms and warehouse automation.

Long-term focus: From the beginning, Bezos focused on the long term, prioritizing building a valuable company over immediate profitability or shareholder concerns.

Early Bezos Philosophy

When skimming through podcasts and interviews with a young Jeff Bezos, a few consistent themes emerge that he would likely focus on today:

Using technology to create new services: Bezos utilized technology, such as data and the internet, at a time when these tools weren't widely used. He referred to this period as “new category formation time,” where businesses can capitalize on minimal competition to establish market leadership.

"New category formation time" is the period when a new market or industry emerges, allowing businesses to capitalise on minimal competition and establish market leadership.

Customer obsessed: The needs and satisfaction of the customer were central to everything Bezos did. Customer value came first; everything else followed.

"Customer obsessed" means placing the customer's needs and satisfaction at the core of everything a business does. It involves relentlessly focusing on creating value for customers, understanding their needs, and continuously improving the customer experience.

A central role for technology across all divisions: Bezos saw technology as core to his business strategy. This led to developing internal recommendation algorithms and warehouse automation.

Long-term focus: From the beginning, Bezos focused on the long term, prioritizing building a valuable company over immediate profitability or shareholder concerns.

A clip from the 1999 news segment '60 Minutes' features correspondent Bob Simon interviewing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who at the time was leading a small startup focused on selling books.

Jeff’s Marketing Agency

If a young Jeff Bezos were to start a marketing agency today, what kind of business would he create? Let's paint the picture based on his early-stage philosophy.

1. New category creation in marketing agency land

Quitting your job and deciding to found a company comparable to Amazon would only be worthwhile if there was a technological trend capable of creating a new category. Today, several such trends exist: climate tech, augmented/virtual reality, biotechnology, space, and—the elephant in the room—AI.

AI

A logical choice would be to integrate AI into existing marketing services, either by providing AI-powered marketing agents or offering new AI-driven marketing solutions.

Biotechnology and space

Biotechnology and space are less obvious choices. Nevertheless, can they wield a similar upside because of the opportunity of creating new channels via biotechnology and space. Especially in the existing market with oversaturated channels.

Climate tech

Climate tech presents a different challenge. While I can think of business ideas with the scale of modern-day Amazon (e.g., a currency for CO2 compensation), integrating them into a profitable marketing framework is complex.

>> It’s worth writing a complete article about new category creation within marketing. If you want to receive a notification when the article on the future of marketing is released - sign up for it at the end of this page.

Jeff’s Marketing Agency

If a young Jeff Bezos were to start a marketing agency today, what kind of business would he create? Let's paint the picture based on his early-stage philosophy.

1. New category creation in marketing agency land

AI

A logical choice would be to integrate AI into existing marketing services, either by providing AI-powered marketing agents or offering new AI-driven marketing solutions.

Biotechnology and space

Climate tech

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The customer obsessed agency

In the early days of Amazon, the company wasn't just customer-obsessed in terms of relentlessly focusing on services that created customer value. They went even further by gathering and analyzing every piece of customer data they could access.

Today, storing customer data is standard practice. However, the availability of information and datasets online has increased significantly. Investing in understanding customers' behaviors, preferences, and pain points is now just the starting point for competing as a modern marketing agency.

What sets businesses apart is leveraging customer and market insights to anticipate future needs. A modern-day Bezos would keep data and technology behind the scenes, focusing instead on using customer insights and changing market conditions to anticipate needs before customers even express them. This proactive approach demonstrates genuine care for customers and the value the business creates for them.

The customer obsessed agency

A central role for technology in the agency's strategy

Just because he would keep technology in the background, not visible to the customer, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have a central place in his company’s strategy.

Making technology a central focus means staying updated on emerging technologies that could disrupt the marketing industry or offer new opportunities for innovation. Team members need to stay on top of the latest technological advancements and digital marketing trends.

This can be achieved by regularly scouting for new technologies and providing continuous training for the team.

A central role for technology in the agency's strategy

Just because he would keep technology in the background, not visible to the customer, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have a central place in his company’s strategy.

This can be achieved by regularly scouting for new technologies and providing continuous training for the team.

The long term focused agency

From day one Bezos focused on the long term. Long term moats above short term gains. Long term company value above short term profits. A focus on long term relationships and value creation for customers instead of shareholder value.

Moat = a company's competitive advantage that protects it from competitors and secures its long-term profitability and market share. This can include factors like brand strength, proprietary technology, network effects, or regulatory advantages.

A modern-day agency can achieve this by emphasizing sustainable long-term growth for its clients, customer-centric value creation, and ethical business practices over immediate financial rewards.

This approach can be implemented through the following tactics in a marketing agency:

Implement feedback mechanisms to continually adapt and improve services based on customer input.
Focus on retention by maintaining high service standards.
Implement reward systems that recognize long-term achievements and contributions to client success and satisfaction.

In conclusion - It won't be a lineair process

If Jeff Bezos were to start a marketing agency in 2024, he would likely focus on leveraging new technological currents like AI, biotechnology, space, and climate tech to create new market categories, separating himself from the status quo.

He would obviously maintain a customer-obsessed approach. More interesting, his agency would emphasise retention of clients by offering long-term marketing strategies and value creation through sustainable practices. Plus he would prioritise long-term relationships over short-term financial gains, while keeping technology in the background, yet as a central element in his strategy.

However, it will not be a lineair process. He would prioritise understanding customers and anticipate on their needs. Needs that evolve over time and need to be discovered again and again. This will lead to adjustment and extension of his philosophy with unique principles. Principles that distinguish the agency from other agencies. Principles -yet to discover- that give his agency a unique advantage over other companies. Companies such as Amazon.

In my next articles I will dive into (1) Jeff Bezos’s later days at Amazon and his management principles, and (2) continue writing about “new category creation in marketing” and the future of marketing.

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