JUNG at heart

I’ve tried to move on.

Tried to leave the idea of an emotional connection behind and embrace modern marketing.

To think only about needs that sit on the surface for everyone to see.

Tell my clients that all that matters is their brand comes to mind and is easy to find when those needs pop up in people’s lives.

Category Entry Points, Mental Availability, Physical Availability. Repeat after me.

But I just can’t do it.

The problem is I have an emotional connection to the idea of an emotional connection. Years of working on brands and their positionings have shown me its value.

And beneath that are all the Need Maps. I’ve built around a hundred and it’s still my model of choice. Explaining deeper needs can be hard, you need a bit of structure.

I also disagree it’s all about availability. You can’t simply ignore situations where there’s a consideration set and then a preference and then a choice. And then, most importantly of all, an experience.

Of course, it all comes down to evidence.

Apart from the panel data and surveys that lead to all these new-old laws, there’s the psychology of brand buying.

That’s become dominated by dual-process theory, the metaphor for the two systems that don’t really exist, and questionable concepts like refreshing memory structures.

It’s become a strange and barren land. Look at the data, follow the laws.

So does that mean that all this time Carl Jung was wrong?

It’s fair to say he relied on his own observation and intuition in his work, so you can always challenge the robustness.

But what about his ideas, like the shadow?

There’s the personal shadow. Jung saw this as our dark side. Repressed desires, weaknesses, unacceptable instincts. But really it’s our implicit goals, good and bad. I see your belonging and raise you my status.

And there’s the collective unconscious shared across cultures and time, which leads to archetypes.

Jung saw the shadow as universal: “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” 

I don’t mean to pick a fight with Carl but I’ve never really seen deeper needs as unconscious. If they result in feelings, at some level they have to be conscious.

But surely anyone can see that everyone has them, lurking around. Just think about yourself for a moment. Be honest.

The shadow isn’t evil, it’s our hidden life. The drive behind much of our behaviour, for better or for worse.

And still gold dust for brands, as well as other challenges.