“All the intricacies that make up who I am, and while those data points may exist, you don't really know who I am until you know how I see the world. And while we live in a world where there's more data than ever before - reams and reams and reams of data - we don't have that level of intimacy because we mistake information for intimacy. But with intimacy, we get a better sense of how people see the world and ultimately how they translate the world. And it's that translation, it's that meaning-making system that is culture that demarcates who we are and ultimately governs what people like us do. And as marketers, nothing should be more important. Nothing should be more important than understanding how people make meaning of the world because their behaviors will shortly follow. And our job as marketers is to influence behavior, full stop.”
Marketer extraordinaire, Marcus Collins is a clinical professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. A former advertising executive who worked on iTunes + Nike sport music initiatives at Apple, Marcus contends that what we wear, what we eat, where we work, who we date, and just about every facet of our social living is informed by our underlying culture. And the primary goal of all industries is to “get people to move”, whether it is to buy, to click, to watch, vote, or subscribe.
In this intriguing conversation with Steve Goldbach of Deloitte and Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50, Marcus discusses his latest book, For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, And Who We Want To Be, and explains that his work is really just about connections - “connecting things that are normally disparate, so they come together and create new and novel things.”
He also describes how he came to lead digital strategy for Beyoncé, the influence of Émile Durkheim on his ideas, and the power of collective effervescence.
Marcus is the recipient of the Thinkers50 2023 Radar Award and his book, For the Culture, features on Thinkers50 2023 Best New Management Booklist.
This episode will be available on 27 March 2024.
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