Living things produce approximately 90 percent of all the methane gas on Earth. It's a chemical sign that transformative biological processes have occurred, usually involving digestion. The Mars researchers believe they've sensed seasonal differences in methane levels, which is reminiscent of the variation in the gas we might see here between, say, before and after a big dinner.
So is it possible that the key indicator of what would be the most incredible discovery in all of human history...is a giant fart?Finding things based on their antecedents, by-products, or aftermath is a pretty standard scientific approach. Since all physical actions have reactions, that means everything that is observable is somehow, someway, sometime causally related to everything else.
Equations are the literal maps of such interactions; theories are the models that propose the linkages.And then observation and measurement are the litmus tests that differentiate fact from really neat and/or hilarious propositions.You can probably see where I'm going with this one: why can't we similarly lower ourselves to the same base level of physical truth when we look for evidence of brands?No qualitative survey or focus group can claim causal relevance for branding to purchase decisions; there's no linkage can can be measured, only a connection inferred.
Suggested. Implied. Same goes for the outbound branding prior to purchases. We can try to measure, whether via conversation or fMRI sensing devices, what aspects of brands somehow register -- for the moment we choose to sense them -- but these mental states remain outside the purview of any direct connection to buying.We can't write equations for brands, because they steps aren't linked by anything more substantive than dotted lines on PowerPoint slides, or the aspirational hopes of our employers and clients.
Instead of basing our branding equations on the demonstrable reality of who, what, where, when, and why people buy things from us, we chose to measure the vague merits of brand intention, presence, engagement, promises, or whatever. That's just not the same as measuring, say, the levels of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere, because there are only two ways it got there.
And you don't need a glossy metaphor to describe or understand them.So where's our flatulence in the marketing world? I fear that it's mostly generated by all the experts who still have no real idea what they're talking about.
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