Looking at part of a problem can blind the whole of the solution

The Marketing/Business divide

As a kid, I used to love those 'connect the dots' activity books. I enjoyed these more when I challenged myself to picture the result - dog, elephant or whale... (dinosaurs were still extinct then) before I even joined the first two numbers. Later in life, I found this a useful skill in the work that I do. Connecting the dots sequentially was much like step-by-step, clinical analysis. Imagining the object resembled envisioning the big picture. It was also a great tool for validating a retrofitted strategy.

Lying in bed at the height of my nasty flu that lasted several weeks, my mind wandered back to the basics of connecting the dots and seeing the big picture at the same time. Something that is rarely emphasised in today's race towards speed and novelty.

During those weary flu days, I chanced upon a blog titled "Advertisers with Performance Problems Turn to Management Consultants by Michael Farmer", Executive Chairman, TrinityP3 USA. Michael, a man with incredible experience and wisdom was lamenting the inability of advertising agencies to solve business problems, a space being increasingly usurped by management consultants. I agreed with much of what Michael said especially the fact that agencies transact with people at a lower level in the corporate hierarchy as compared to management consultants. The blog went on to suggest that "Ad agencies flourish when times are good but not when their clients are having performance problems. Agencies can solve creative problems but not corporate performance problems. They don’t have the skills or expertise."

"Was this always the case?," I wondered.

The golden age of advertising during the last Century was not entirely a result of favourable economic and industrial conditions, or positive shifts in the media and demographic landscape (I was hoping to respond to Michael but the comments section was no longer accessible).

All of a sudden, I remembered this book titled Obvious Adams by Bob Updegraff (it's more in the genre of a short story) that I read long, long ago. Although a work of fiction, it was inspired by real life experiences and illustrates how a brilliant copywriter was consistently successful in his mission to solve intractable business problems. Obvious Adams acclaims the virtues of “gathering all the facts and then analysing them before deciding what really is the obvious thing.” I have recommended this book to many budding marketers although some are turned off by its 1916 date stamp.

Copywriters during that era spent hours on the shop floor and days inside shops. Peering at every nook and corner of the plant and poring over every little detail, gathering insights and forming hypotheses. (I recall as a 22-year old MBA, in my very first role, I spent weeks across the business including in the factory observing how pressure cookers were made, learnt how to fix broken ones myself, and personally undertook many pressure cooking demonstrations in community centres).

Today, I do not see the same keenness among either consumer marketers or agency folk in understanding the business model, appreciating the industry/market context, learning how the product is made, meeting customers face to face..., any of which can reveal new ways of addressing business challenges. Technology is not the only means for innovation. Ask George Day at the Wharton School.

We need to rediscover the science of connecting the dots and the art of visualising the big picture.

Fast forward nearly a century from Adams time (no pun) and I found the same zealous pursuit in solving business problems inside Mark Payne's "How to kill a Unicorn", another book I would recommend to any aspiring strategist, marketer or creative. It has some fine examples of Fahrenheit 212's work on how customer innovation and business innovation evolve in tandem.

Design thinking has become a buzz word but ideas are able to be monetised only if human-centred innovation can combine desirability with viability and feasibility. This requires diversity of talent and perspectives, besides creativity that is tempered with commercial acumen. That is the only route to bridging the chasm between Marketing and Business, and potentially preventing Ad agencies from being blindsided by overtaking management consultants.