Is marketing science dead? MSIX 2024, reviewed
Is marketing science dead? Adam Ferrier poses the question at MSIX - and Nick Hunter, CEO of Paper Moose is here with the answer - and a review of last week's MSIX event in Sydney.
Is marketing science dead? This was the question that Adam Ferrier wearily asked at the end of the day at MSIX. It sat in the air unanswered, with a few awkward coughs from the audience – then he moved on as if he had not, in fact, actually said it out loud.
It’s been some years since the last MSIX conference.
The last time I went I remember being inspired by incredible case studies and new marketing science tools. This year, it felt like a comfortable reminder that we know little more than we did four years ago. The core rulebooks are still ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’, ‘How Brands Grow’ and ‘The Long and the Short of it’ – a book that came out over ten years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, there were some great sessions and some thought-provoking discussions. Professor Ujwal Kayande held a great session about how often our messages are dissociated from what our customers think about our brands. The hilarious ‘Accenture Big but Agile’ campaign, the butt of many jokes. This was reinforced by Rob Brittain discussing a Tourism Australia case study: ‘It’s not what you have, it’s what you are famous for’. And Brent Vrdoljak gave a great masterclass on packaging design.
Brent Smart cut through the noise with the simple advice: ‘Does the work make you feel anything?’. If so, buy the work and buy it completely. If not, move on to the next thing. This was also reiterated by Kayande where he summed up his findings by pleading with people to just… ‘think’, which kinda summed it all up in my mind.
Marketing Science has and probably should become common sense for marketers, a baseline requirement for being in the game, not a complex and fast-evolving field.
Above that base foundational knowledge is creativity, and we need to remember that first and foremost, we are storytellers and tastemakers. It is our job to continue to push the ideas, tell brilliant stories and make people feel something.
As Brent reiterated, “It’s not brave to choose bold work, it’s brave to choose wallpaper – because that is far riskier for your brand”. Advertising is a creative act and creativity is, at its core, a messy thing. It’s still the big, bold, funny, pull-on-the-heart-strings creative ideas and exceptional craft that deliver long-term ROI.
So, to answer Adam’s question, no Marketing Science is not dead: it is the best set of data and science we have for what works.
We are simply past the hype cycle and (fingers crossed) some of us are moving into the plateau of productivity.
Perhaps it has become a hygiene factor and we can get back to focusing on the creative or, alternatively, distract ourselves once more with how AI will replace us
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You know nothing about this topic
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I like this article a lot
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spot on!
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I think the term marketing science get thrown around a bit too liberally.
I prefer to just call it marketing.
There’s no university offering a marketing sciences degree anywhere. Just as many who have a PhD in marketing are no more scientists than a masseur is a doctor.
In fact, if anyone claiming to be qualified to pontificate on marketing science was a genuine scientist – like a neuroscientist – they wouldn’t make most of the claims they make until their research and conclusions were peer group reviewed by a panel of real scientists.
So, let’s not kid ourselves, much of what is reported as marketing science is no more than marketing theories and the people claiming to be marketing scientists are no more than marketers.
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@science
Can you please highlight one thing in the above article that’s the result of genuine science?
-It’s not what you have, it’s what your famous for?
Nup.
– Think?
Nup.
-Does the work make you feel anything?
Nup.
– Advertisng is a creative act?
Nup.
-it’s not brave to choose bold work. It’s brave to choose wallpaper?
Nup.
All wonderful insights, but exactly what do they have to do with science?
I look forward to your response.
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