Chapter 15
Already History
Read Time:
5.5 Minutes for Skim Readers
7 Minutes for Steady / Considerate Readers
15 Minutes for read it and read it again readers
23 Minutes to read it, make a cup of tea and read it again readers
That last second, the one between this breath and the previous breath?
That’s history.
As is the breath before that – and – wait for it – that one.
Every second in history is now history … it’s like trying to catch a tiny fly.
“The Theory of Gone” was developed because once something is out of sight, we are wide open for another view, another idea to take that “something’s” place.
Not quite “Out of sight is out of mind” but almost.
So – it follows, in an adjacent kind of way, that you could see your branding, marketing and advertising as not just being a way to grab attention and have people retain the memory of your name / shape / colour / sound – but also to be so overpoweringly memorable that previous and intervening, temporarily out of sight brands, are actually forgotten.
How is that possible! You may ask.
Well – thanks for asking – the Theory of Gone goes like this:
If you’ve taken on board the theories from Chapters 8, 10 & 12, this should follow on perfectly in helping you to frame a strategy, or assess and adjust the strategies you already use.
(See – it isn’t just random thoughts shook up in a sack and thrown on the page y’know!)
Get this out of the way immediately: Anyone telling you your marketing success or lack thereof is only about marketing strategy, nothing to do with branding? Kick them out of your office and call us – we can be your EMR Service (Emergency Mind Rescue).
Branding IS Marketing.
NEXT: The human brain is a highly efficient waste disposal plant.
To work properly it needs constantly feeding and constantly purging.
If you have managed to stick in someone’s mind – if the logo or name has taken hold – anchored itself in the subconscious – soaked into the walls, carpets and furniture of the brains memory room – is that enough?
Correct – the answer is no.
ASSOCIATION #1:
Why were you seen in the first place and why were you remembered?
Obviously – Great Name, Great Logo… maybe a direct advertisement or a random “bumping into while passing” BUT what were you associated with?
If you can link the memory of you with an unforgettable universal feeling – then, in a future 400 Milliseconds when someone has a need for:
• A problem you can solve
• A product or service you can supply
• Advice on anything you are expert in
YOUR LOGO, YOUR FACE, YOUR NAME
should be the first thing that comes into their mind.
And that must be enough – right?
Wrong (correct again)
Association #1 is everything already discussed about your Name & Logo Design in previous chapters.
ASSOCIATION #2 & PYRRHIC VICTORIES
In between their first encounter with your brand and that 400 milliseconds of need moment, who else have they come across? What has been happening in their lives to distract them from the problem they hadn’t had till now? The need for your product or service? The thing they didn’t need advice on till that future moment?
How many times have you made a choice – only to wish later that you had made a different one?
Try not to objectify them as “customers of your product”,
they are humans who may need your product. Always “human” first.
Example: Your potential customer has encountered your Brand, your Brand is unforgettable, but they use someone else to address their needs.
Later, when you come across them again they say: “So sorry, we really wish we had bought from you, we ended up with XYZ and we’re stuck with it now.”
That may have been a cost choice that caused “buyers regret” later, but why weren’t they already sold as the unassailable quality choice?
Or if they paid more – why did they think your product was of lower quality?
The pyrrhic victory, of knowing you were better than the competition, is cold comfort when you also know the same pound can’t be spent twice.
If you want your Brand to be so overpoweringly memorable even when out-of-sight, you have to stop trying to be remembered (we’ve done that bit, let’s assume you’re remembered) and start trying to be impossible to replace.
Your Beautifully Designed by humans Brand, having entered a brain, also has an accelerating half-life – like radioactive decay or the efficacy of a drug.
Which means after it reaches its first half-life in the mind the next half-life to the final quarter of your original impact will decay at least twice as fast.
The speed of that Brand specific memory loss is a distraction rate – if you’re the only supplier in a small town with a population that doesn’t travel (or own TV’s, Radios or have access to the Internet) your Brand will never be forgotten for a single Millisecond of need.
It follows that while your visual / literal Brand Collateral has been made to stand out in a Jungle of mass distractions – Repetition of that Brand visual and a strong message (put “messaging” on the list of Chapters to look out for) is the only way you are going to really become the LOGO, FACE, NAME that comes into their mind First Time Every Time!
NOTE: This is not to be mixed up with Google’s ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth) first written about by Jim Lecinski in his 2011 book “Winning the Moment of Truth”.
Which in turn came from P&Gs pre online shopping theory FMOT (First Moment of Truth) when consumers saw a product on the shelf, and SMOT (Second Moment of Truth) when a customer uses the product.
The Brits were ahead of the P&G theory with POSI (Point of Sale Impact – also long forgotten by marketeers).
Nope none of that – forget I just put that in your mind.
Association #2 is remaining part of your targets lives by visibility and repetition.
Making your product irreplaceable is another conversation you should be having.
RECAP:
1) Sensory Anchoring – as it has been called:
You have a Brand Name and Logo that is associated with a universally great feeling, event or impression – anchored in the customers mind ready for the 400 Millisecond rush or being there as the established partner.
2) You have a strong message – That is constantly repeated, there in the room, drowning out the whispers from light weight competitors trying to infest the room with petty doubts and distractions.
ASSOCIATION #3
If your moving targets (customer / potential customers) haven’t retained the memory of your brand in that first 3 seconds (Chapters above) – you’ve already slipped down the mind’s plug hole without a whisper or water stain to show you were there.
BUT there’s worse…
3) Cognitive Evictions – The Dark Side.
Never forget there are two sides to these equations.
You are trying to keep your position in those memories, but you are also trying to replace your competitors – where they are sitting comfortably in other minds.
A) As we’ve established above the mind is a waste disposal plant – all the soft furnishings in the memory room are being constantly rearranged – and what is not relevant anymore is sent down the chute.
People are like that.
When something new (technology, style, fashion) does come along that changes a marketplace or method, you have to be ready – not saying
“Don’t worry nothing has changed”
but saying
“What you have is brilliant and here is how it can be adjusted to work with these changes. Saving you the cost of a complete change.”
BUT If you are already on top of the changes – you can be in front of your customer, telling them about it almost before they know themselves and assuring them you are still the best solution.
B) If you are looking to burst in on a competitor, distract their customer and become the customer’s instant 400 Millisecond choice – while your competitor isn’t watching:
Association #1 & #2 (+ messaging) already have you in the best position to do that.
But you can add – informing your competitors customers of the changes in the market place – before your competitor.
(Conclusion – you need to be on top of all three + some)
In its most brutal basic format, that is the Theory of Gone.
If you aren’t:
• Anchoring your brand,
• Repeating your message,
• Preparing to evict the competition, from your spaces…
Your Brand’s decay has already begun.
The half-life of your Brand in their memory is running down to zero, while a lightweight competitor is in there, burglarising the place, quietly changing the furniture, replacing your Logo, Face & Name with theirs.
So, drop the spreadsheets for a second and
start making noise now – while you still have their attention.
