SCIENCE meets ART
Here’s a way to think about brands making an emotional connection.
It’s from quantum theory, so bear with me.
Carlo Rovelli, the Italian physicist, said we should not look at the world as made by things, like stones, but by happenings, like kisses.
“A stone is a thing because I can ask where the stone is tomorrow, while a happening is something that is limited in space and time. A kiss is not a thing, because I cannot ask ‘Where is a kiss? Where will it be tomorrow?’ It just happened.”
He went further.
“Reality is constructed by a network of interactions beyond which it is not even possible to understand what we are talking about.”
Here’s another way.
Peter Gabriel wrote a song awhile ago called ‘Love Can Heal’, which he’s only just released as part of his i/o project.
He wanted the music to be “a carpet of sound, a sort of tapestry where things are woven together but are not supposed to stick out, just to form part of a whole.”
He was looking for visuals to accompany the song, so he approached the artist Antony Micallef.
Antony came up with a piece he called ‘A Small Print Of What I Think Love Looks Like’, which became the start point for the video.
“It just suited the song so well, I thought, so well. It just like….because I had ideas for other pieces and stuff and like, you know, different songs and… But this one…when something just like literally, it’s like put the triangle in the triangle shape, it just fitted and…and…it was so nice because it…it’s just so nice when things feel like they’re meant to be.”
And here’s my attempt.
“Imagine the people your brand targets as circles floating around in space. On the outside is what they do. On the inside, the circle within the circle, is why they do it.
Now imagine your brand is nearby. Think of it again as a circle within a circle. On the outside, how it stands out. On the inside, what it stands for.
This is what you want to happen. Attention gets drawn to the outside. A connection is made with the inside.
And there’s a fit. A moment of closeness. But long enough for people to make their choice.”
Because we all know marketing’s a science and an art, don’t we?
