Sir Isaac Newton makes his second appearance in this series with his Law of Gravitation. Perhaps one of the most widely known principles of science is gravity. I say this knowing that while most people could probably not explain gravity very well, just about everyone understands the idea. This was Newton’s blockbuster idea. It explained ocean tides, comets, and even led to the discovery of Neptune.
So what is Newton’s Law of Gravitation about? Well, here goes…
Newton basically asserted that “every object in the universe attracts every other object along a line of the centres of the objects, proportional to each object’s mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distances between the objects.” This theory served to explain much of the earlier work of Kepler in one concise theory. While Newton’s Law of Gravitation was later proven not to apply to all objects (black holes and situations with extremely high gravity) by Einstein, his work is a foundational part of modern scientific thought.
So in my feeble mind it seems that Mass and Distance are the keys here. Now how to take these ideas and put them in the context of Marketing?
Because people are not always rational, I am not sure you can apply an equation to human behavior with much precision, but I definitely think that there are parallels to be drawn. Here is my first take. Think about customers. Big brands get big attention. People know Coke. People buy Coke. Coke is massive. Coke has pull.
So how do little brands stand a chance of getting some “pull” with customers. The answer lies in proximity — the other part of Newton’s Theory. Small companies must get close to the customer in order to stand any chance of survival. They can actually use this to thrive and exert considerable influence if properly executed. Would a proper analogy be the impact of the relatively tiny moon on the Earth’s tides as opposed to the sun’s impact on them? (I ask because I am not a scientist) The moon has huge pull on the Earth’s oceans, and impacts the tides because of proximity. Certainly it has far less Mass than the giant sun. Still it is close. So, continuing my example in the world of soda pop, (using both terms to be user friendly) Jones Soda has done a great job of being “the moon.” They decided to get close to consumers — actually putting photographs of them on their packaging. This has allowed them to build a loyal following of consumers who are engaged with their products. They conduct events that are designed to be built around the consumer as well. They have done a masterful job of utilizing this principle to create growth.
Here is the rub for most companies. How to maintain that proximity. Starbucks is feeling this pain, Jones is probably going through it as well. As you gain more mass, it is actually more difficult to remain close to the consumer. The proximity or closeness to individual consumers tends to suffer as companies experience growth. The distance increases, and they exert less pull. In summary the moon becomes more like the sun, just not nearly as big. Thus the advantage it enjoyed thanks to proximity is destroyed. Jones becomes more like Coke, but without the Mass to sustain the gravity.
Wonder why your favorite brand “sold out?” Well because they were faced with this dilemma. How to stay close and simultaneously get big. How to maintain or increase pull? “Selling out” is just a natural part of that. People inevitable pick Coke, because it carries a lot of weight. It has mass — and thus gravity. It pulls people back. To sustain that mass Coke invests in Mass media, mass distribution, mass exposure. It must sell a lot of soda pop to sustain that mass and gravity. This is why small companies don’t need superbowl ads to thrive. They need super customer service.
Marketing in my mind is all about the customer. You can have gravity through mass or proximity. You might be able to get both, but often you have to choose. There is no “right choice” but recognize that with that choice comes the implications of gravity. Growth for growth sake — more mass — might not always be the answer.
Alright, so that is my take on Marketing and Newton’s Law of Gravitation. What do you think? How does Newton apply to the modern world of Marketing? Please enlighten the world with your thoughts.
Very eloquently put David.
A thought akin to your soda analogy:
As you may know, I recently bought my first home with my family. I knew that there was going to be some maintenance work…but I have found that my gross underestimation has found me taking trips to home improvement stores weekly-plus.
Here lies a perfect example of how Newton’s Law of Gravitation seems to apply to marketing. It was the week before easter and I had been in my neighborhood Ace True Value picking up a gasket that I needed to make a minor plumbing repair. While I was in the store, I noticed that on that Saturday they were hosting their annual Easter Egg Hunt. Naturally, I decided that I was going to take my 5 year old girl to the hunt (gives me a chance to spend quality time with the little one and be in a hardware store at the same time). Now the egg hunt was very folksy. It was an honest effort to do something nice for their customers. It did not go off without a hitch (they ran out of eggs), but at the same time, it was a clear message of appreciation and giving something back. Anyway, the crux of the story is that this particular store, although it does not have nearly the mass of a Lowes or Home Depot, has a high gravity not only because it is close, but also because of things like Easter Egg hunts and other events that tell the customer base that ‘we are close AND we care’.
The interesting fact related to this wonderful hardware store is that I, unfortunately would not travel far out of my way to go there. Had I lived around the corner from one of the big box DIY stores, I would have bought my gasket and been on my way. Why? Because mass and distance affect our buying habits, no matter how hard we try to say they don’t. It seems to just be the science behind business.
Dave:
Great post — I’ve learned a great deal from your Physics of Marketing series of posts. I’m looking forward to the next one!
Best -
Doug
It is always about service David. Even for the big mass like “Coke” . When a food-research institute published reports about presence of harmful amount of pesticides in Coke and Pepsi a couple of years back in India, both brands took a big hit. It was only after a long-drawn advertising campaign where Pepsi used the tagline “Same Standard Worldwide” that consumer confidence grew back into these mega-brands.
Rohit
I think mass and distance are both important. However, the law of gravitation states that distance has a greater influence than mass. The gravitational force between any two bodies can be described as follows:
F = G*M1*M2/d^2
So the force (F) is linearly proportional to mass but the distance effect is squared. So if you double the distance (d), the force drops to 1/4th. Being close to your customers is more important than being big.
I think a good analogy is my personal choice in operating systems. Microsoft is huge, it has an extremely large mass. However, their anti-competitive business practices and high cost software push me away from them. As a result, I have begun to gravitate towards Linux and open source software. Now Linux has only a mere fraction of the mass as Microsoft, however they are “closer” to me in terms of concept and in cost. Therefore, they have a greater pull even though the mass is considerably less.
If being close to your customers is truly more important than being big, do you wonder why it tends to be such an afterthought? Play to your strength. If the strength of a small firm is proximity to the customer, than intuitively the focus should be on getting closer, not bigger. This might be akin to what Seth Godin described as “share of wallet” as opposed to the typical focus on “share of market.” Deeply understanding the needs of customers, identifying, anticipating, and solving their problems yields proximity. Advertising can deliver bigger, but understanding gets you closer. Gravity is pretty damn interesting. Thanks Isaac Newton.