There is an old (and odd) debate about the art and science of marketing: every now and then it’s a key theme in highly regarded conferences and round tables, other then being the most common statement in any marketing meeting you have the luck to be invited to. Are we really looking at marketers as craftsmen on the way to transform themselves into geek scientists, lost between statistical formula and neuroscience? Forget about it. I argue this is the wrong debate to have. Marketing, at its best, is good Art, full stop. And I tell you why.
Marketing (and Art) is about Connecting To People, their needs, inner emotions, and aspirations; it’s about creating expectations and delivering the promise. This is equally true in the consumer space as well as in the so-called business-to-business. As I wrote in my post: “The Value of Getting Personal in B2B Marketing”, any buyer is a human being. And human beings, despite all efforts to make purely rational decisions, are primarily driven by emotional motivations.
Marketing (and Art) delivers the best when you have a Systemic View: it’s about connecting the dots, uncovering new and unexpected paths, providing a different perspective. In marketing, this translates into designing a compelling customer experience across all the touch points, looking at the market opportunity while considering the competitive landscape and your company capabilities. In art, timeless masterpieces are built with a systemic approach: from Dante’s “Divine Comedy” to Joyce’s “Ulysses”, from a Beethoven symphony to Michelangelo’s “Sistine Chapel”, they have all been designed to live on their own, in an almost fully comprehensive universe.
Marketing (and Art) is about Form. Words, tone, images, fonts, packaging, advertising, website, any form of communication and interaction with customers should consistently express and represent the company soul and values. It’s how the promise is delivered.
And what about science? Science is instrumental to Marketing (and Art). True, technology is radically changing the way we do marketing: from behavioral analytics to marketing automation tools, from geo-location services to mobile payments, a wide range of solutions are creating new ways to better and more effectively engage with customers, with streamlined journey steps, proactive personalization and contextual interaction. But isn’t technology changing the art landscape? What would be literature and visual art without printing? How digital is revolutionizing the way we consume music? Would we have photography and movies without technology? Would we have Pixar’s “Inside Out” (which is all about human emotions) without technology? Blade Runner, Forrest Gump and Titanic would not have been possible without great visual effects. Henry Cartier-Bresson, Sebastiao Salgado and Steve McCurry would not be known if they didn’t have a good camera in their hands. Still, nobody is debating about the art and science of movie making and photography.
Marketing is Art, is about connecting to individuals in a beautiful and meaningful way. Let’s welcome the Technologies that are reinventing the way we do marketing. Imagine the possibilities.
