Life as a marketing archaeologist? Start off with something easy like uncovering clues to your own brief (and hopefully known) history. Perhaps with a dig into a nearby t-shirt drawer or coffee mug shelf. I imagine some people have jobs where they've never been given a mug, t-shirt, anti-gravity pen, or other company logo'd knick-knack. How strange. But for a marketing archaeologist it's easy to classify the techie digs by the sheer mass of emblazoned mugs, t-shirts, and desktop fidget toys. A quick mug excavation at our house uncovers two decades of such debauchery, with a heavier concentration in the dotcom years. Our resumes could be picture books featuring all of the logos emblazoned on wardrobe and kitchenware by each employer.

It's not all fun and games being a marketing archaeologist. While uncovering remains in the mug dynasty you'll surely run across a lone artifact without markings. Gun metal gray. Towering. Faintly austere. No easy clues here. What kind of subtle marketing gimmick could this be? Blank.com? Gray.com? Mug.com? A present from a long lost, favored Aunt? No, it would surely have a Garfield or Dilbert cartoon with an appropriate caffiene laced quip. Was it purchased? Surely not. Modern wardrobes, furnishings, and bathroom products all sport some sort of branding for we are but wards of a commercial marketing state. Out comes the heavy equipment: infrared scanners, black lights, bunsen burners, control subjects. Maybe a logo shows up in the presence of hot coffee? Glow-in-the-dark message? PH triggered ads to remind one to use coffee creamer? Not to fear, this is where a real marketing archaeologist shines.

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