Seth Godin has a great blog on marketing. To me, his views put marketing within the context of the system (of the whole organization) rather than a disconnected “stovepipe” as it is often treated. This fits with my bias in favor of systems thinking. He has written several books on the topic:

• All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
• The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable by Seth Godin and many others

He recently spoke at Google: view via Google Video. I found the video enjoyable and worth the 45 minutes.

Random comment: he needed some simple help from someone who spoke Japanese, he posted a message to his blog and a few minutes latter had two volunteers. I think that type of interaction is cool.