Life Isn't a Slogan

Marketing has often been guilty of trying to shrink the vast, messy expanse of human life into crisp diagrams and zippy tag lines. But life isn't a billboard—it's layered, unpredictable, and refuses to be pigeonholed. The concept of 'customer personas' is a prime example; they're meant to represent our shopping habits but often end up as oversimplified, missing the richness of real people with their complexities and contradictions.

The popular story of the 'customer journey'—a direct flight from recognizing a need to making a purchase—is a myth. Our shopping paths are more like a treasure hunt without a map, full of detours, spontaneous decisions, and last-minute plot twists.

Marketing models are starting blocks, not finish lines. They should guide us, not hold us back. When we stick to them too closely, we lose the chance to capture the spontaneous moments that truly engage customers and make a campaign memorable.

It's time for marketing to take off the blinders and see the disorganized, personal side of consumer behavior. By designing strategies that acknowledge and celebrate individuality, we craft deeper connections and more effective campaigns.

Marketing must rise to the challenge of understanding the jumbled reality of human behavior. Let's ditch the broad-brush strategies and get real. Understanding the actual, often chaotic, nature of consumer actions is what leads to marketing that resonates deeply and changes the game. After all, why should life be reduced to a slogan when it's so much more?