Marketing Lessons from Penn and Teller
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 4:50PM By Larry Kilbourne
Much traditional marketing is about creating illusions. But illusions are...ah...well, illusory. Perhaps marketing is most powerful and compelling when it crafts a message that appeals to one's reality, and not illusion. Then smoke and mirrors and buzzwords are replaced by a message that is simple, compelling, and to the point.
But I can already hear dissenters. So let me call upon two impeccable witnesses for my case: Penn and Teller.
Years ago Penn and Teller mastered an illusion - very popular in the world of magic - known as "Cups and Balls." This involves placing a ball under a cup and 'magically' making it reappear under another cup. Teller discovered that it did not make any difference whether he used opaque cups or ones that were transparent to the audience. They were still fooled! Now when Penn and Teller perform the trick they show the audience exactly how it's done - and still fool and amaze them.
Moral: In marketing, truth can be more appealing and compelling (and stranger) than illusion.
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Copyright © 2009 by Larry Kilbourne, Ph.D. Dr. Kilbourne is an independent marketing consultant. He may be reached at lkphd@yahoo.com.
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