What’s On My Mind 

Or, the danger of certainty

I’m wrapping up my Brand Marketing course this week with a final project on one of my favorite production houses – Blumhouse. I’ll share that next newsletter, but in the meantime, there’s something I read in my textbook that’s been sticking with me.

And not in a good way.

In chapter 10, it discusses a family of qualitative marketing research techniques called Neuromarketing. To poorly summarize, it’s the use of advanced equipment like EEG and fMRI machines to map the human brain reaction while people are being exposed to marketing materials and brand assets.

Even while reading it, I was skeptical, and the textbook shared my skepticism.

1. MRI machines are not where most people have their most authentic emotional reactions. Those things are terrifying.
2. Even beyond that, being strapped in like that could make response bias even worse. As in, “I will tell you whatever you want to hear to get out of this horrible machine.”
3. I can’t help but wonder if the information given is that much more meaningfully different or advanced than what could be gotten through more traditional means.

It’s point three that really stuck with me. None of that equipment is cheap, whether purchased or rented, so by definition only the biggest brands use it.

And I get it – for a brand like Coca-Cola, a .001% increase in sales can amount to millions of dollars, so there’s a massive incentive to chase even the smallest gains. But seriously, how much of a difference are you learning from that granular a measurement? What are you even measuring at that point? Microscopically fractionally different shades of can color?

Human perception is amazing, but somewhat limited in what information we actually take in. A handful of directors, including Peter Jackson and James Cameron, have been pushing to shoot and display movies at 48 frames per second rather than the traditional 24. It’s not taken. There’s only so much information our brains can take in, and people don’t like the way it looks.

In other words, there are differences so slight that they don’t actually move the needle. The human brain can only take in so much information. And using tools this granular isn’t necessarily giving you actual data you can do something meaningful with.

So why do marketing researchers pursue this nonsense?

Certainty. Not just confidence that they’re pretty sure, but as close to certainty as they can get. Play any video game with a dialogue system that tells you the % of success when you choose certain options. You’ll inevitably be angry and confused when you pick something with a 90% chance of success and still fail.

That’s because 90% is not 100%. 100% is actually impossible.

But we all WANT 100%. In fact, we’re often selling the idea of 100% in marketing, or as close to it as we can get. Kills 99% of all bad breath germs. Guaranteed to work or your money back. Promises to make you look sexy, feel confident, and be certain you’ll be the life of the party.

Marketers want that too.  As John Wanamaker famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”. Modern marketing analytics has gotten a long way up from half, but not 100%. It will never get us to 100%. 

We still crave certainty, even if it doesn’t make financial sense to pursue it. Even if it means blowing millions of dollars on a company’s MRI machine.

Maybe we’d be better off just making peace with the persistent uncertainty of the universe.

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What I’ve Been Up To

Or, the value of life-long learning

Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been taking marketing classes from UCLA Extension. Despite a seven-year career in marketing, with hard-won triumphs under my belt, most of my knowledge has been acquired through earned experience. I’m a gifted communicator and a natural writer, which has allowed me to learn on the job and gain an instinctual understanding of the business. However, I’ve hit a ceiling made of my lack of theoretical strategic background.

I have no intention of letting that ceiling hold me down.

Hence, I’m back in the classroom. So far, it’s been an incredible experience. I’m learning so much.

Among other things, I’m learning that I’m a much better and more devoted student than I was in my youth. I don’t necessarily recommend class for everyone, but I do think learning new things in your life is incredibly valuable. It –

• Reminds you how to be comfortable dealing with something you don’t know or aren’t immediately good at.
• Rewires your brain so you think better, applying new information to old skills.
• Keeps your brain plastic and flexible, which has been proven to help prevent age-related cognitive issues.

In other words, because I keep learning, I’ll be better equipped to handle new marketing challenges, smarter in how I apply skills I already have, and be in the game longer – if I choose to be.

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One Cool Thing

I saw my favoritest band, The Midnight, in concert a few weeks ago. As a gift, I bring you a cut from the newest album.

Until next time!