Tom Asacker: Bertrand Russell on belief

Bertrand Russell on belief

"It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true."

Do you suppose that simply displaying and repeating a brand's name and tagline in various media will influence consumer decision-making and purchase decisions? Do you believe that simply getting people to talk up your advertisement or viral webisode will do the same? Do grounds exist to support these mere exposure/mnemonic marketing approaches? Take a look at some cognitive decision making and behavioral biases. Should marketers study these effects and approach their jobs as psychologists and propagandists? Politicians do, and it seems to work well for them. At least so far.

Justice Brandeis wrote that "the greatest danger to liberty lies in the insidious encroachment of men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." Perhaps the same applies to marketing: "the greatest danger to marketplace relationships lies in the insidious encroachment of men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."

When will we finally jump the shark on the old model of business that believes money to be the goal, and customers the means, to one which believes that customers are the goal and money the means?

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Comments

Tom - this is a great point. Communication doesn't build brands (though it certainly can help). Great experiences, great service and great products do that. You need to take a branded approach to all of this and know what you want to stand for, but advertising and word of mouth are the tail on this dog, and should not wag the whole beast. I've posted an article (on my blog) which you may find interesting, about the how more companies need to focus on how employees deliver the brand.

Love the blog btw

Posted by: Mark Lewis | January 27, 2006 at 01:46 PM

Tom as always your articulation of thought is superb.

Customers are what it is all about. Customers drive competition and innovation through the expression and understanding of need. Understanding why and how they respond to that need and its fulfillment is essential to a businesses success. Not just marketing or branding should be in tune to behavioral processes and motivation of the customer. It should start with the CEO.

As far as Brand is concerned as Mark previously mentioned, it is yes on customer experience and service but no on the brand concept. Brand will always be a shallow interpretation of the customer’s interaction, need and perception of or, for a product, or company’s name, or purpose. In fact it doesn’t really concern itself directly with real need, but it does focus on the reactive elements of a customers perceptions.

It is certainly an important part of the equation to fulfilling what a customer desires and the fulfillment process attached to a customer’s real need, but way too many people in branding, in their attempts to continuously define branding have diluted its purpose and function. Such behavior has neutered brandings affect on the targeted customer segments. Such generalized descriptions of branding and their application have turned it into a tasteless soup. Branding isn't everything to everyone, nor does it drive loyalty or customer retention, nor is it the cure all for all that ails business; and it isn't customer experience management or the heavenly sent answer to customer service solutions. What it is, is a tool to create product or name recognition and identity value enhancing the sales proposition. It is no more and no less.

Until the current school of thought changes in branding it will continue to disintegrate until branding is completely ineffective as a medium in business and product identity programs.

Posted by: Tim Whelan | January 31, 2006 at 08:48 AM