"Logic is a poor model of cause and effect."
Inference and demonstration are poor models of cause and effect, yet they're precisely what the marketing community uses to explain the elusive - and precarious - connection between mass media advertising and sales.
A few months ago, BusinessWeek analyzed the results of the least forwarded ads on TV based on Tivo’s data on 20,000 households. They reported that the one lesson from the Tivo ratings is that "relevancy outweighs creativity in TV commercials - by a lot." The least-fast-forwarded commercial on TV wasn't an emotionally compelling narrative for a major brand, rather it was an informational ad for a company called CORT Furniture Rentals.
In contrast, last month Brandweek reported on a new Advertising Research Foundation study that found that "Telling a story about the brand is more engaging, memorable and compelling than telling a bunch of facts." An ad that struck an emotional chord with respondents was one for Campbell's soup. "Ad research firm Gallup-Robinson, Pennington, N.J., found that the spot, which showed a little girl's sadness and anxiety melt away into a soft smile once she was given a bowl of soup, generated 80% purchase intent. Most viewers measured said it was believable."
Both conclusions are interesting and can be debated at length, but where precisely is the causal relationship to sales and profitability? It's not there. The problem is one of proximity. The further away one gets from the effect (in place, time, occurrence, or relation), the more difficult it is to pinpoint the cause. Instead of trying to get consumers to engage with passive TV ads perhaps marketers should become more active and real, get closer to their audiences and engage with them.
As John Russell, President of Harley-Davidson so aptly put it, "The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing." And make no mistake, the key to a truly differentiated economic offering is what one does, not what ones says (no matter how engaging).
Posted November 5, 2007
Email this post
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c684b53ef00e54f8d7a2a8834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Gregory Bateson on logic:
» PR Chatter - November 7, 2007 from Common Sense PR
Worth reading:
Editors New Media Models - Valeria Maltoni looks back at a series of interviews with print and online editors. Print is more sensual, eliciting a physical reaction in the reader. Online information is more findable and perma... [Read More]
The comments to this entry are closed.
(Rest assured, we will never provide your email address to anyone. Period.)
RSS feed
Tom on Twitter
@tomasacker
Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas.
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
When Tom Asacker writes, I read. Opportunity Screams is the right message for the right time.
Tom Peters
Comments