Everyone is not a marketing expert.

The lens for evaluating marketing.

People tend to treat marketing just like any other form of content. They apply the same lens to marketing that they apply to a movie, a book, or naming their cat: “Do I like it?”

For example, we were once in a meeting where a CMO was proposing a new color pallet for the company brand, which included orange.

The second the CEO saw the new colors, he grizzled, “ORANGE!?

Don’t you know that ORANGE makes people angry!?”

We were not (and still are not) aware of any data science that shows this, but we sure know orange makes one guy angry!

The “do I like it” lens is for fools.

Yet, it is the lens most used when evaluating marketing.

But the right lens is, “Does this work?” And by “work” we mean,

“Does this marketing help us design and dominate a giant category that matters?”

That’s the lens to evaluate marketing plans, campaigns, and executions — and it turns out very few people are trained, experienced, and qualified to effectively answer that question for an organization.

So, when looking at a new marketing plan, do NOT look at the idea through the “Do I like this?” lens.

Look at it through the “Does this work?” lens.

👊🏴‍☠️

Christopher Lochhead

This post is based on the work of Category Pirates 🏴‍☠️