Predictably Irrational Attitude to Marketeers

Jeff Atwood has posted a great selection of excerpts from the book ‘Predictably Irrational.’ There’s some interesting stuff in there and I love reading up on the type of cognitive experiments it talks about.

But I was a little offended by his preface to the article.

If you don’t understand how these irrational behaviors are triggered, the marketing weasels will use them against you.

It seems the world has a warped view of the kind of people that work in marketing. And I while I don’t want to stand up and defend every marketing message that goes out, I will say this. Marketing serves an important role in any company. If you work in the private sector, your job would not exist if your employer didn’t market its products or services effectively. If no one knows about, or wants whatever your employer is selling, then it’s game over.

Marketing people aren’t saints or saviors, but we’re not weasels either. In fact, it will most likely be the marketing department that pushes a company to go green, abandon shady employment practices and make better products. Not just because it makes our jobs easier, but because we want to feel like we’ve done something too. Alas, its also our job to combat bad publicity, which I suppose puts us on the front line.

This idea that marketing people conduct massive studies and consult reams of scientific research for every tiny decision we make, or that we live and die by demographics is just plain nonsense. True, that stuff can be useful, but it’s often quicker and more productive to just do what feels right. It’s a skill, a sort of applied armchair psychology. We have good marketeers and bad marketeers for this very reason. And while some marketeers work for companies you might not like, other work for people you do like.

The simple fact of the matter is that ‘Marketing Weasels’ are just as susceptible to this stuff as everyone else. We’re human, and our industry does not advocate or foster the scientific principle, so we’re just as likely to make irrational choices when it comes to picking colors or editing copy. And while cognitive science is interesting, warning people of the dangers of our irrationality is as useful as pointing out that we grow old and die because we breath oxygen. It’s true, it’s interesting but it’s completely useless information since life without it wouldn’t be all that great either.

But maybe that’s just me. If you can apply the lessons learnt through this book each and every day then you need to write your own book about how you did it. Overcoming the human condition is no small achievement.

And please note that while some marketing luminaries might talk up cognitive science as the most awesome thing to happen to marketing ever, remember that these people are marketing their knowledge and skill to other marketing people. In reality, it’s just not worth while losing sleep over any of it.

Anyway, I’ll definitely be buying the book, but I doubt many of my peers will.