First Principles Thinking In Marketing

First Principles Thinking In Marketing

If you have ever worked in any kind of start-up, you’ll hear about First Principles Thinking a lot. It’s the art of asking the 5 whys, something that great ad planners and creatives think about a lot, but it has a lot less branding and credence than it does in tech (which is odd since we all work in creating brands!)


To be more specific:

1. All marketing should try and challenge assumptions. But how do I know this is true? What if I thought the opposite?

2. What evidence do I have? Can I back up my ideas? Are my sources diverse and interesting?

3. Have I considered alternative perspectives? What do others think? What makes me think I am right?

4. Have I examined consequences and implications? What if I am wrong? What are the consequences if I am wrong?

5.Have I relentlessly questioned the original problems? Why did I think that? What was my reasoning process? What makes me scared?


In essence this is a reductive process to get to the core of the problem. And I am very lucky that I have spent the last 5 years working with Uncommon Creative Studio, an agency who immerse themselves with this process, even if they do not overtly espouse it.


Together with Uncommon, we built an uncompromising brand in Habito which is constantly aped and copied by other fintechs. What was our uncompromising truth? That people hate hate hate hate getting a mortgage. The solution: Hell or Habito - be honest about the customer's truth, and solve the problem by the product - but never ever explain the product in an ad. Just create a brutally clear promise, and deliver! This exceptional clarity, let’s call it Advertising First Principles, allowed us to flex our creative muscles in building a madly relatable hell - using creative legends like Jimbo Phillips and the Adult Swim Team. It also allowed us to be equally creative in our resolution - using real life stresses to create our new heaven. We focused on sex tbh, making a Mortage Kama Sutra with Noma Bar and an erotic novel about buying a house with the My Dad Wrote a Porno team.


So now I am on to the new venture, Circa 5000, the gold standard of ethical, sustainable, green investments - we call them Impact, but blah blah blah. The killer insight is that most people feel powerless with their little savings pots, but the truth is your money has more power than you think. Your spending is all about the choices you make, but your savings are all about the choices you have. Cue a killer ad about to land. Cue 100 ideas we have had already, but have yet to make. It has proved to me again that Advertising First Principles thinking really works for marketing and hyper growth.


And I have to pay respect to Tom Goodwin here, his recent diagnostics on his own success on Linkedin show that the only thing that matters is great and interesting content. His piece inspired me to get on my high horse and write this.?


So when I get asked what my playbook is (when the expected answers are referrals, PPC, social media) my answer will always be Advertising First Principles Thinking. Get to the fundamental customer problem, and solve it in a sentence. Then you are on your way, on a rocket ship, hopefully ??


And I’d love some feedback, marketing at a fintech is a lonely job!!

Maya Moufarek

Full-Stack Fractional CMO for Tech Startups | Exited Founder, Angel Investor & Board Member

2 年

Irina Chuchkina you ladies should connect!

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Ani Petrova

B2B Marketing Consultant | Fin+Tech Specialist | Founder of The Fintech Marketing Hub | How I can help ?? linktr.ee/ani.petrova

2 年

I just love it, Abba Newbery! Such refreshing thinking amidst all the growth hacking hype we hear all the time! I can't wait to see the creatives and we would love to cover the new campaign on The Fintech Marketing Hub. Good luck! ??

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