We’re only human

‘The single greatest marketing chart since the century began’. So said Mark Ritson. And I’m inclined to agree.

Finally, unequivocal proof that the big/long/transformational ideas that our industry prides itself in can have a big, robust and sensible business case. Les Binet and Peter Field achieved the unthinkable - a rational argument for the slightly magical, occasionally airy-fairy nonsense that we’re lucky to call an industry.

High-fives in every agency. Handshakes in every boardroom.
 

But not really.

Yes, it’s undoubtedly the most useful chart we have at our disposal. And yes, it’s the jewel in the already outstanding Binet and Field back-catalogue. But if we are to take full advantage of their toils we have to view it in context.

Consider the following:

According to The Marketing Society, 41% of CMOs are planning to change job inside 12 months and 82% aren’t planning to stay more than three years. And that’s not taking into account the new vogue for the Chief Growth Officer.

In that context our ‘killer chart’ can be viewed in a different light:

If I’m not planning to be around for more than a year then the bottom left-hand corner starts to look enticing.

I could sacrifice my own results for the sake of my successors (who will likely change everything anyway) or I can harvest some good results to take to my next interview.

It’s a perfect mirror of the chart itself. A battle between rational and emotional only this time the sides have switched - the rational argument points at long-term and the emotional, intensely personal, argument points at short.

Taking the advice of our favourite chart, we can have no doubt which will win.

So much so, that perhaps we are showing marketing directors a chart which proves to them that they should do exactly the opposite of what we are trying to persuade them to do.

So what can we do?

Well, for a start, accept that this chart (like all data) is open to the vagaries of human interpretation. As comms people who want to do airy-fairy work which delivers high fives and long relationships we read it to support that argument. People with annual bonuses, annual range reviews and stretch targets need immediate results so read the chart in a completely different light.

Therefore, we can be more strategic in how we use this chart. It may very well be marketing chart of the century, but Binet and Field have not given us a silver bullet. It’s a powerful point to make, but it is not the argument in full.

Finally, we need to flex the muscles which we want our brands to wield: partnership, emotional bonding, body language - the emotional primers for great work and long-term relationships should account for 70% of our efforts.

(Particularly when two men and an IPA databank are handing us most of the other 30%) 

By Andrew Gibson, CSO, Creature