Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers

252 Pages·2008·7.85 MB·English

by  Gerald Zaltman

Praise from Forward-Thinking Professionals
"In a world where buzzword fatigue and Powerpoint malaise are quickly making
complexity the enemy, the Zaltmans offer us a road toward simplicity. Meta-
phors are notjust artifacts of rhetoric, hut essential signposts of meaning-and
meaning, after all, is what brand marketers are trying to create."
-Ted McConnell, Director of Digital Marketing Innovation,
Procter & Gamble
"Metaphors can serve as powerful tools to communicate ideas creatively, but as
Zaltman and Zaltman prove in this hook, the true power of metaphors may lie in
their ability to provoke deep and imaginative thinking. This hook shows us that
metaphors, when used well and appropriately, can help develop ideas in new and
unexpected ways that can expand the boundaries of knowledge and practice."
-Anil Menon, Vice President, Marketing and Strategy, IBM
"The Zaltmans' groundbreaking work introduces us to the deep metaphors that
capture the universals of human thought and decision making irrespective of
culture or nationality. This book is an indispensable guide for business leaders
seeking to expand beyond traditional markets and benefit from the untapped
potential of the four billion customers and wealth creators who are just entering
the global economy."
-Djordjija Petkoski, Head, Business, Competitiveness, and Development
Team, World Bank Institute, The World Bank
"A huge challenge in marketing is to find positioning ideas that work globally.
MarketincMetaphoria unlocks the door to the universal ideas that run our lives and
is invaluable for those who aspire for their brands to have true meaning in peo.
ple's lives."
-Keith Pardy, Senior Vice President, Nokia Strategic Marketing
"Step into the land of Marketing Metaflhoria, a world where consumers use just a few
deep metaphors to organize the complexity of their daily lives. This hook changed
how I think about how comumm think. A must-read for anyone wanting a deep
understanding of how consumers develop emotional connections to a brand."
-0lin I-Ioover, Vice President, Consumer and Customer Insights,
Pepperidge Farm, Inc.
"In today's market, companies cannot succeed without actionable insight into
consumers' minds: how they interpret stimulus, how they make decisions. That's
what makes ~arketin~~etaflitoarmiau st-read. It sheds light on how to blend the
science of the human condition with the discipline ofbrand management."
-Mark Hendrix, Executive Vice President, Director of Corporate
Marketing, The PNC Financial Services Group
"Marketin~Metaphoriaa ffirms that deeply held human needs and emotions are
often not easily articulated. The authors clearly demonstrate how metaphors
provide a window to the way consumers view not only products and services but
the world around them."
-Bernard D. Novgorodoff, PbD, AVP, Director, Consumer Insights Group,
Brown-Forman Beverages
"Once again, the Zaltmans have given us tools to overcome the 'depth deficit' in
corporate America! MarketiyMefaphmia provides a fascinating and practical way
to understand how to commnnicatc to customers about the deep emotional ben-
efits ofproducts and services."
-Jane Clarke, Vice President, Insights and Innovation, Time Warner
Global Media Group
"With MarketingMetaphmia, the Zaltmans continue to challenge marketers to tmly
understand their customers at a deeper, more meaningful level. While acknowl-
edging the complexity of this endeavor, they effectively use real-world examples
to illustrate how the understanding of deep metaphors can be successfullya p
plied to marketing strategy and execution. Their perspectives on segmentation
and traditional interview methods are particularly refreshing in a field that has
seen little innovation. The Zaltmans continue to excite and inspire me with
MarketingMeta$ho.i.!"
-Marc White Sr., Insight Director, Global Marketing,
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
"This book provides an approach to building global love for brands by position-
ingemotional benefit within engaging communication. The Deep Metaphor
framework provides the common thread, givingglohal brands local relevance."
-Eapen George, Vice President, Flavor Development and Innovation,
PepsiCo, International
"In a business world long on data and short on meaning, the Zaltmans' deep
metaphors provide powerful lenses through which to understand customers
deeply and translate such understanding into action. By turns brilliantly insight-
ful and pragmatically prescriptive, this book is a formidable competitive weapon
for marketers and strategists alike."
-Jeffrey E Rayport, Chairman of Marketspace LLC,
a Monitor Group company
"Fascinating! This book helps you understand why traditional research tech.
niques have such a low battingaverage, and provides a road map for understand-
ing the true motivaton of consumer action. It will surely help its readers overcome
the 'depth deficit' in thinking and set them on their way to deeper thinking and
deeper profits."
-Michael Wendroff. Vice President, Marketing, Combc, Inc.
"The Zaltmans' book will be transformational for marketers who learn to listen
carefully for the 'invisible piper' inside their target audiences, and for anyone
engaged in important global activity-be it business, government, or politics-
who will learn that success springs from understanding the things that unite us."
-Robert Barocci, President and CEO,
The Advertising Research Foundation
"A welcome antidote to the superficiality that aMicts too many books on con-
sumer psychology. Where others focus on trivial differences between market seg.
rnents, the Zaltmans explore the deeply rooted beliefs spanning eras and cultures
that frame our comprehension of marketing messages. The result is a book that
is readable, insightful, and very, very human."
-Scott McDonald, Senior Vice President, Market Research,
Conde Nast Publications
"This fantastic book is an indispensable next step in deeper thinking, one that
should be adopted by all those who are interested in effective communication
in every area of life-he il marketing, managing people, or even personal
relationships."
-Tadeusz Zhrawski, President, Universal McCann Poland
"The only book of its kind that provides a breakthrough framework for a deeper
understanding of creating greater value and more meaningful experiences for
customers."
-Lou Carbone, author and founder and Chief Experience Officer,
Experience Engineering, Inc.
Praise from Renowned Business Scholars
"After reading this beautifully written and compelling book, you will understand
consumers-and yourself-better than you ever have before.''
-Leonard Berry, M. B. Zale Chair in Retailing and Marketing Leadership,
Mays Business School, Texas A&M University
"The Zaltman team takes us behind the scenes to probe deeply into the emo.
tional drivers of consumer behavior. When armed with their insights you will
surely think differently about how to make your products more relevant and
your communications more compelling."
-George S. Day, Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor, Whaiton School,
University of Pennsylvania
"This mind-bender of a milestone reminds me of Carl Jung on archetypes and
Noam Chomsky on linguistics and language formation. You will never think the
same again about what shapes consumer behavior, thanks to this eye-opening
hook."
-Philip Kotler, S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of
International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management,
Northwestern University
"In this wonderful guide to how consumers think, thc authors' research reveals
seven basic metaphors that underlie consumer behavior across seemingly diverse
groups. Anyone wedded to traditional market research methods or interested
in emotions and unconscious thought will benefit from reading this engaging
hook."
-Don Lehmann, George E. Warren Professor of Business,
Columbia Business School
"This hook provides the answer to the oft-quoted paradox: 'If companies only
knew what they know.' In Toyota, deep metaphors are part ofwhat it calls the
'nerve system'of communication. Deep metaphors are the key to communicat-
ing tacit knowledge in today's knowledge-driven society."
-Hirotaka Takeuchi, dean of the business school at Hitotsubashi
University and coauthor, ExfremeTqota (forthcoming)

Also by Gerald Zaltman
How Customers %ink
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Gerald Zaltman
Hearing the Voice @he Market
CompetitiueAduantage Through Creative
Use ofMarket Injnnation
Vincent Barabba and Gerald Zaltman
GERALD ZALTMAN
LINDSAY H, ZALTMAN
Haward Business Press
Boston, Massachusetts
Copyright 2008 Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay H. Zaltman
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
No part of this publication may he reproduced, stored in or introduced
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (elec-
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), withouc the prior
permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should he directed
to [email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Busi-
ness School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zaltman, Gerald.
Marketing metaphoria : wha~se ven deep metaphors reveal about the
minds of consumers /Gerald Zaltman, Lindsay H. Zaltman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4221-2115-3
I. Consumer behavior. 2. Metaphor. I. Zaltman, Lindsay H. 11. Title.
HF5415.32.2353 2008
658.8'342-dc22
200704oir6
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents
in Libraries and Archives 239.48-1992.
Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust-
we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned
in the distance by an invisible piper
-Albert Einstein
Metaphor is so widespread in language that
it3 hard tojnd expressionsfor
abstract ideas that are not metaphorical.
-Stephen Pinker,
n2eStuffoffiought
% our wzvej
Ann (G. 2.1
and
Jen (L. Z.1
Contents
Undressing the Mind afthe Consumer:
Introduction to Dee$ Metaphors
How to Think Deeply
I
A BritjfGuide to Overcoming Eur Depth Deficit
Foundations of Deep Metaphors
2
How Managers Benefitjom Discovering
Consumer Similarities
I!ow3ustice, Equilibrium, and the Inteqlay
afElements Affect Consumer %inkng
4 Transformation
How Changes in Substance and Circumstances
Affect Comumer %inking