The new won’t come from looking at past patterns. It will come from bold brands that create new movements, behaviors, and patterns in our culture.
I came across the following comment left by “Jon P” in response to a blog post that pondered the difference between puzzles and mysteries:
“The solution to most marketing problems can only be found within the irrational fears, and colorful impulses of your ideal customers. Because those are the things that drive purchases.
“But data collectors and data analysts aren’t comfortable with messy stuff like that. So they go on pretending that the mysteries of the universe will be revealed if they can just collect enough data. It’s a good way to detect patterns, but a lousy way to figure out how to create them.”
Don’t detect patterns, create them
The challenge today isn’t so much how to measure things (that gets easier and easier everyday). The real trick is to generate new movements in the marketplace, to create new behaviors among people, and to influence the very patterns of our culture.
These innovations won’t come from staring at data sets, tweaking algorithms, or creating new metrics. They will only come from a romp through the fertile, yet messy ground of the “irrational fears and colorful impulses” of people.
Bottom lines are built by messy emotional decisions
I believe a brand’s bottom line isn’t built through the concise science of analyzing data patterns. It is built through understanding, influencing, and embracing the messy and emotional decisions of ever-evolving human beings.
