Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Side note to Gary Bloomer, who wrote "... it's marketing, not rocket science."

In many ways, I think marketing is much more difficult than rocket science. Rocket science requires linear thinking, is highly scientific and structured, and actions lead to highly predictable outcomes. The number of independent variables is relatively limited.

Marketing, on the other hand, is both art and science. It requires advanced analytical skills using a wide range of data from disparate sources, creativity, ability to transfer learnings from seemingly different "experiments," and a moving target in terms of consumer and customer needs. It's part psychology, part advanced statistics, part communication, and taps into all four brain quadrants.

Net, "it's marketing" should mean "it's a lot more than rocket science."

(That said, the core of your advice is still sound. We don't need to make the challenge more than it really is.)

Dear Michael,

Good point about my "... it's marketing, not rocket science." quote.
Quite right. Marketing IS art and science. It IS difficult to grasp, and it's so easy to screw up.

My point about rocket science was meant metaphorically, not literally. But so often, it's seen as the other way around: incredibly complex.

What's needed is common sense added to business needs, meeting people's problems with direct answers where it's believed the complex answer is essential. It isn't.

We are both on the same page, on the same line, looking at the same letters in the same word.

I hope this clarifies my view, and thank you for making the case about art and science. I agree wholeheartedly.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA