Blinded by SCIENCE

This is when it can happen in marketing.

When you’re dazzled by new data but don’t do due diligence.

When you reduce Kahneman’s book to ‘most things we buy on auto-pilot’.

When you discover the born-again zeal of the newly-enlightened.

When you prioritise what can be measured over what matters.

When you want to stand apart from other people when what you need is to fit in with them.

I could go further.

When you understand brands are about memory but base everything on the retrieval Associative Memory Network theory.

When you ignore the fact that the NBD-Dirichlet explains buyer behaviour in a snapshot in time.

When you see patterns as laws and laws as dogma.

When you say ‘how’ brands grow when what you mean is ‘when’.

When you believe that science is about winning the argument.

And if we’re being honest here.

When you did Maths A-level but can’t now remember anything about Probability, except that a coin doesn’t have a memory.

When you use words like mechanisms, correlation and aggregate instead of feelings, links and sum.

When you criticise others for not reading academic papers, even though you find them unreadable.

When you rely on the LinkedIn algorithm for your further marketing education.

When you get drawn into a comments debate and it’s only the two of you there.

But the damaging part.

When you conclude all it takes to build a brand is consistency and reach.

When you see creativity as alchemy and stop there.

When you find yourself downplaying the importance of the product.

When you forget about the mountain of evidence of brand success due, in no small part, to a compelling, competitive and credible positioning.

When you’ve lost your way but keep shouting “follow me”.