When a 2000-year-old philosopher can school you in marketing...

When you think of Aristotle, you probably think old face, white beard, and a toga, right?

For me, I remember him as actors Barry Jones and Christopher Plummer, playing the academic and moral tutor to Alexander the Great. In both Alexander films (played by these men in 1956 and 2004, respectively), they were minor, behind-the-scenes roles. But they each delivered epically profound lines filled with meaning, purpose and implication. These concepts have not changed with time because they are truly original.

Which is why, rather than reviewing another text for our 10th edition of #InsightsCaffeine, let us instead look at another orator--one a bit more our contemporary--and what his views of good marketing are. Incidentally he is also Greek, like his great-great-great.... great-uncle thrice-removed, and he is responsible for launching the Apple: Think Different campaign which steered Apple onto its journey from near-bankruptcy in 1997 to becoming the world's most valuable company ($2 Trillion market-cap as of this writing).

Unlike many of the academics whose theories we've reviewed recently, Peter Economides is an actual practitioner of branding, marketing and communications. An alumnus of McCann and TBWA (co-founded by another Greek descendent of Aristotle), Peter has worked on all the brands you would want to have in your portfolio: Coca-Cola, Absolut (pre-Pernod Ricard), Nestle, Gillette, Nivea, and many more. Having run his own agency since 2003, Felix BNI, Peter was a fellow guest speaker at a marketing conference I was doing the keynote for and his simple, and original, message to the audience has stuck with me ever since. Taking inspiration from the ancient Hellenic, Peter has adapted Aristotle's Rhetoric from a text about how to be a persuasive orator into how to be persuasive brand... Brand Rhetoric if you will. It almost sounds like a good jazz song, doesn't it?

4 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1) IT DON'T MEAN A THING IF YOU AIN'T GOT THAT SWING. The Queen and Duke of Jazz (Ella Fitzgerald and Edward Ellington, respectively) were referencing dance moves in this 1957 duet. But had they been singing, instead, about what brands need to do on the dance floor of consumer opinion, they definitely would have been referencing the concept of ETHOS. Just like you need to know how to weave across a dance floor, or lead your partner, you also need to know what you're doing and be consistent about it. There's no sure-fire way to ruin a brand than by jumping around all over the place--and your fellow dancers wont appreciate it either. Ethos is your raison d'etre, your Why? (for those Sinek fans out there). It's Apple's Think Different: using computers, music, and phones to help consumers build their own identity (with future AR, VR, audio-tech and self-driving cars to help!) It's Nike's Find Your Greatness / Just Do It: empowering the inner athlete in every one of us but also standing up for them (i.e. Colin Kaepernick). Brands must find out the problems of their audience and connect with them. If they can express their Ethos well--through design, distinctive brand elements, or even better a persona that can be recognised as authentic (which in Apple's case was Steve Jobs himself)--then they can successfully connect with consumers who are increasingly look for the real thing.

2) USE YOUR MEGAPHONE, CLEARLY. Once you know who and what you are, it needs to be communicated simply and clearly. LOGOS is the articulation of your argument to the consumer: the problem you aim to solve; your reason to buy; the claims you make to back up that RTB; a USP (if you really have one). It is the logical, rational manifestation of what you do and how good you are at doing it. It is not about pushing features since, for the most part, consumers don't understand the lovely little complexities your R&D department have cooked up (i.e. organophosphate penta-peptide complex with B17 vitamin beads), nor do they want to. Instead, something tangible yet understandable like 1000 songs in your pocket, is a much more relevant and transparent way make your argument--as are demonstrations that your product/service works, testimonials, and the like.

3) MAKE THEM CARE. Now just because you dance the right way (Ethos) and say the right thing (Logos) doesn't guarantee you a sale. You have to do all this with PATHOS. While a modern translation for Pathos would be "passion", Aristotle's interpretation is slightly more insightful: that of "awakening emotion". Consumers (i.e. humans) are not Matrix-style calculating machines making refined, logical and calculated decisions as we've all probably experienced at one point or another. A consumer needs to make a real connection, even if it is only momentary as they run through the Duty Free en-route to their flight (weren't those the good-old-days?) This is not about getting consumers to fall in love with you (sorry Lovemarks). It is about showing consumers that you believe in yourself enough to engage with them in a deeper way. Otherwise, why should they even bother giving you their business? Imagine going on a date with someone who makes no effort to be charming, or attentive, or seductive if called for. It's just a waste of everyone's time. So push some buttons, evoke a positive or funny or outrageous reaction. Without an emotional climax (at least once) you will never secure that sale. Without a human connection, no one can care about your brand enough to select it, let alone begin to love it.

4) ANNA WINTOUR SAID IT BEST. “It's always about timing. If it's too soon, no one understands. If it's too late, everyone's forgotten.” While Aristotle does not strictly cover the timing aspects of the perfect rhetorical delivery, Peter has picked up on this subtle but vital ingredient of this persuasiveness of branding model: KAIROS or timeliness. You can bring the right product/service with the right message and the right emotions at the wrong time and you will not connect with your consumer audience. Conversely, if you do not continue to provide new and relevant Logos, behind new or refreshed Pathos, you risk being delegated to the dead-and-gone parts of consumers' minds.

It's all about putting things in perspective

Marketers love to (re)invent new wheels... wheels of change, wheels of dominance, wheels of complexity. But Aristotle (and Peter's timely update) have shown to be just as relevant and useful in the modern world as they were back when the only way 1000 songs could have fit in your pocket is if they were written in infinitely small handwriting on the tiniest of papyrus scrolls... and if your toga had a pocket to begin with.

Ethos leads to Logos. Logos is wrapped in Pathos. And the whole package is delivered at the right time (Kairos). It's a simple enough formula for any brand to master. The only issue is that most brands (controlled by human brand marketers) have an issue being consistent. A new product, a new "big idea", a new campaign strategy, a new media or distribution channel... all of these scream internally for someone to do something different and slowly most brands find themselves diluting their Logos, misplacing their Pathos, and if they're really off-base, they lose their Ethos along the way, too. Thus we again return to Aristotle and one of his most famous ideas for stark but inspiring reminder:

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

For reference, the actual quote comes from American philosopher William Durant in his book The Story of Philosophy (1926) as he was paraphrasing his pre-B.C. mentor.

And so those brands which are consistently motivated, consistently passionate, and consistent in their message are the ones that consumers most trust, interact with and remember... even in a world crowded by choice and with little effective loyalty. Think Different indeed.

For those of you who would like to hear more about Brand Rhetoric delivered with impeccable style worthy of Aristotle's original principles on Rhetoric, Peter's live presentation can be found below.

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