They Never See Us Coming.

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.”

 â€“ Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint, The Usual Suspects

If you were not too young to remember, “The Usual Suspects” was one of the break out movies of 1995. It was this movie that introduced us to the acting genius that is Kevin Spacey. He has gone on to wow us in several movies since and more recently as the low key psychopathic politician who becomes America’s president in the Netflix series “House of Cards”.

In the Usual Suspects we were introduced to Spacey as Roger “Verbal” Kint, a cripple and archetypal low life criminal who walked with a pronounced limp. Knowing nothing but seeming to also progressively know so much, Verbal whilst being interrogated by the police, led the movie transitions through a series of flashbacks that told of a fearsome crime lord called Keyser Soze.

When his family was held hostage and a threat that his children would be killed in his presence, Keyser Soze kills his own wife and children and then kills all the hostage takers bar one, the lone survivor was left alive to go tell of his legend. He was said to be so badass he went on to kill all his enemies, their families and even those who owed his enemies money!!

In the ultimate bait and switch scene at the end of the movie, we learn that Verbal is none other than Keyser Soze himself. In a masterful unveil, Verbal straightens his “crippled” leg and walks with no limp into the waiting getaway car, leaving the police detective bewildered.

Keyser Soze soon became the patron saint of all bad guys, the exemplar of being able to spin everyone into intentional strings of a skilled puppeteer, while operating in plain sight. The character is so badass that till today some still do not believe Verbal was Keyser Soze. You may wonder what the point of this deep character analysis is to an article on marketing?

I will explain.

By its very nature, marketing summons its own antagonists. Those who tell you dead pan that advertising and in deed all marketing efforts don’t work on them. I tend to find this type of discussion very funny. Some of my most interesting conversations are with people that pride themselves on being logical thinkers. So besotted by their capacity for reason, they down play the possibility that they are as suggestible as anyone else.

If I have time on my hands I usually start by asking questions about the clothes they happen to be wearing at the time, why did they buy it? why did they wear it today? As we speak, I gently peel back their memories to reveal a silent endorser or a forgotten experience.

To frame this discussion in context it is important to define a few things. Advertising is a marketing communications tool. It is however not the only tool in the marketing professionals box of tricks. Public Relations, Personal Selling, Events and Sponsorships, Direct Marketing and Sales Promotions are all sturdy cousins of advertising.

Where a very emotional TV commercial fails to swing your desire to buy, a well-timed sponsorship of your favorite soccer team may soften those heart strings. When a well designed brochure received by mail (direct marketing) fails to persuade, it may take a knowledgeable sales canvasser (personal selling) to close the sale of a slow selling housing estate. An orderly press conference may not pass on the intended scale of a major banks’ IPO but bringing a live elephant (the bank mascot) to walk the busy commercial nerve center could get the world to sit up and take notice.

At the heart of all these tools is the fundamental insight known to most marketers. Humans are emotional beings; we make decisions on emotions but justify them to ourselves and others via logic. A man who passionately wishes to own a particular car brand may not realize this desire began with seeing the car with someone he respects. Desiring the same respect leads to an unconscious adoption of perceived value.

All a skilled marketer needs to do is to use this strong emotion (respect) dramatized in a TV ad to sow the vividly imagined thoughts of himself behind the wheels to our prospective customer. This may not be enough to tip the scale. So the TV ad includes a pitch to visit the company website, while there he sees he can get the car in any color he likes, he can also get a flexible payment plan and also free insurance for his car.

Weaving such a web is known as applying the marketing mix. The marketing mix has traditionally involved the 4 P’s – Product, Price, Promotion and Place. In our example we see the website (Place), Flexible payment plan (Price), the TV ad, free insurance (promotion) and different car shades (Product)as a set of webs that locked a customer into a firm purchase decision. And the unsuspecting customer just thinks about the purchase decision as a one off decision.

This is where you see excellence in marketing: when a customer makes a purchase decision with little or no idea about the source of their decision. By weaving different versions of the marketing mix and the tools of marketing communication, marketers are able to cultivate customers for the long term viability of their firm.

The sale never starts and ends with one action by the marketer but a series of actions that prepare a customer to be willing to buy. By actions that are literally hiding in plain sight, the marketer continuously chips away at your resistance to the marketing message.

It is thus a grave mistake not to take the role of marketer in a business seriously. The more they perfect their craft, the less likely it is that anyone will ever see them coming.