NEED insight

These days, everyone’s quick to argue the answer is always both. Maybe it is for long vs. short, qual vs. quant, distinctive vs. different. But do brands live in the company or the consumer? Is marketing an art or a science? Are you more Kotler or Sharp? I often think neither is closer to the truth. Maybe that’s why the debates never end. We’re surrounded by false dichotomies, but that doesn’t mean you should add two views together and divide them by two. If you

There’s the Mary in Frank Jackson’s thought experiment. She’s the one who’s been locked in a black and white room her entire life. So she’s never seen a colour. And yet she’s read everything there is to read about colour, the physics, biology and neuroscience of it. She’s the world’s expert on the subject. Then one day Mary escapes and actually sees colour for the first time, a red rose. The question is: does Mary learn anything new in experiencing that colour? I do

As of this week, I’ve been writing this blog for 10 years. I’ve taken it in many different directions. Looked at brands inside-out and outside-in, downside-up and upside-down. But it’s all been about one thing, a single point made in 233 ways. Deeper needs. That’s because I believe that’s where brands live, in the implicit world. Of course, they spend their time in the explicit one. Grabbing people’s attention, getting considered, being bought and then experienced.

What’s the main problem with your brand? Is it that not enough people are aware of it? Or they’ve heard of it but would never consider buying it? Or they might consider doing so but would rather buy another brand? Or they go to buy it but get tempted away at the last minute? Or they buy it and use it, only to find the experience isn’t what they expected? Or they were happy enough with it, but next time around they buy a different brand? Or they really liked it a