Values-Driven Marketing, Alchemy And The Three-Legged Stool

“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” French poet and novelist Victor Hugo was describing shifts on the battlefield at the time. Today it’s my mantra and my inspiration as I connect the dots to document the most massive mind shift we will ever witness, short of a revolution.

The idea that keeps me up at night is as exciting as it is inevitable.?

“Marketing is broken.”

A straightforward sentence during a roundtable with Anannya Roy Sen , then Head of Marketing at Namshi.com , one of the Middle East's leading online fashion retailers. She summed up where we were after Apple killed IDFA, dropping a bombshell on the Mobile Ad Ecosystem, and spurred me to look for new approaches that used other signals to deliver marketing and communications people would surely accept and appreciate.

During the hundreds of interviews with marketing and thought leaders that followed, I listened for clues to what this "new marketing" would be. What would emerge in a space impacted by the pandemic, one of the most disruptive and demanding moments of our time, and altered by the arrival of a privacy-first landscape??

Amaryllis Liampoti , Partner & Growth Director at the BCG Digital Ventures Center, was probably unaware that our casual conversation went off in my mind like a stick of dynamite.

Joking about the "New Normal" — the empty, catch-all phrase that explained everything and, therefore, nothing — we agreed macro-developments had done a lot more than obliterate the old-school linear path from consideration to conversion.?

Marketing is not just broken - it is blown away.?

"Right now, understanding the behavior of these new customers in as much detail as possible is imperative to success," Amaryllis told me. Success and sustainability also hinge on the ability of marketers to "remap the customer journey" to determine when, where and how to add value.

It begged the question: When, where and how can marketers add value??

Significantly, other world events had turned my urge to answer this question into an imperative. Powerful ideas around inclusion, diversity and purpose (whose time had come) combined and collided, and brands, companies, institutions and even celebrities were called on to step up and stand up for something.?

That something.... was their core values.?

Mastercard's Raja Rajamannar sensitized me to the importance of "serving, not selling." In line with this, Mastercard delivers priceless moments that we value. Our interview (just after he released his milestone?Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow's Consumers)?remains one of the most impactful of my career.?

Making the match is magical. (It's also why I am driven to revisit Rory Sutherland , Vice Chairman of 奥美 and author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, and include him in my upcoming book.)

Enter David Allison and The Death of Demographics

The revelation: Values are at the core of everything. It is what influences our choices, motivates decisions and powers conversations.?

The reality: In a world where marketing was flawed, it?is?essential to find a way to factor human values into the equation.

The vision: This combination?can?unleash new capabilities to demonstrate value and infuse everything — from ad creatives to targeting — with humanity.

I was proud of my logic and the powerful concept it unleashed. I was also ready to file it under “warm and fuzzy,” and not make it the cornerstone of my work.

Then I crossed paths with David Allison . While David — consumer behavior and marketing expert and bestselling author — is a warm and wonderful human being, he is not warm and fuzzy when it comes to proof points.?He's about hard data.

He and his team at The Valuegraphics Research Company have surveyed 750,000 people worldwide to create the "first global inventory of what everybody on Earth actually cares about—what our shared core human values are."?

Think of it as a three-legged stool.

1. Demographics help define your audience's basic characteristics.?
2. Psychographics help identify their patterns of behavior.?
3. Valuegraphics completes the construct, allowing marketers to understand what matters most and connect with people on a truly personalized level.

Combining all three allows marketers deep insights into what their customers care about as a group and what motivates each and every one of us at our core.?

The tipping point

In November, David released his latest book, The Death of Demographics: Valuegraphic Marketing for a Values-Driven World (yes, you can order it on Amazon).?

The idea whose time had come had arrived.

As I am proud to state on the band around his book: "This is the future of marketing, CX, UX, employee engagement…this is the future of everything."

Thanks to David, I view the reams of interviews and insights gathered over the years with new eyes and a new mindset. I am validated in my belief that effective marketing is also emotive and aligned with core human values.? And I am inspired to write a book that brings a fresh perspective to David's research, showing how marketers are bringing his concept of valuegraphics into their own marketing efforts.

I'm excited about the journey ahead and over the moon that Patricia Corsi ???? ???????? , Chief Marketing and IT Officer at Bayer | Consumer Health , part of Bayer (Schweiz) AG , has agreed to be included in my book and expand on her values-driven approach to producing unforgettable campaigns that resonate with us and directly confront society's awkwardness around normal, everyday bodily functions and healthcare concerns.

And I close with a shout-out to?Kalina Byrant?(middle), another author on the journey and one who is also an inspiration. Her upcoming book captures her life lessons to empower young black women in tech. It, too, is an idea whose time has come!

If you have a story to tell — please contact me, and we can find out together if it's a fit in my book.