BS Marketing
By Peter Don, BPR
Recently I was reminded of how marketing ideas and concepts can vary from spectacular to downright dumb when I came across a presentation by the smart, interesting and always entertaining Mark Ritson presenting his Top 10 list of Bullshit Marketing ideas and concepts.
Most people involved in Marketing and media will have their own stories of Bullshit Marketing ideas – viewed from either side of the fence and it doesn’t take much effort to identify a few of these that still exist in most countries in various local and national media.
Mark Ritson’s list is more macro and tends to focus on different theories, concepts and ideas that are evaluated on several criteria including:
- Nonsense Factor
- Damage Score
- And the overall marketing BS index.
Of course, most of the comments and criticisms are slightly tongue in cheek but also highlight the risks of committing huge marketing budgets on ethereal concepts like segmenting products into colours or animals.
You can find the summary of the 2021 list on YouTube.
However, within the narrative of why Bullshit Marketing can be risky, expensive and wasteful, was a timely reminder of the basics of good marketing that can apply equally to media in all forms.
- Do my customers (consumers) want it?
- Can I deliver it (successfully, professionally and in a compelling way)
- Can it be different or meaningfully differentiated from other, similar or competitor products.
The first and last points on this simple list are often overlooked – do the market research and deliver a clear benefit.
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