Perfect Crowd

How tarots help in marketing

Tarot cards have a long history of mysticism and prophecies. First of all lets look at tarot cards what they are. For the marketing sake we're fine with the basic card deck of 22. I am aware that I will talk about tarots in a rather simpler way - so all tarot experts have to excuse this as this is an extremely brief introduction of an alternative approach.

Tarot cards maybe understood as a somehow typical lifecycle from the very beginning (the card  of Fool) to the very end - the absolute enlightment and wisdom (the card of World). This lifecycle covers both good and bad things in life and holisticaly is dual and incorporates in different cards various life crossroads.

In simplicity the cards point to situations in life which if handeled, you are pushed into a different  stage, you observe your lifecycle on a different card. The rich symbolism and colours create the entire setting and it may serve as an inspiration to draw parallels,to get inspired on how to solve situations or simply get new ideas to think about. There isn't a good or bad card, there are cards and all of them are dual in there essence - that gives you the power to interpret.

Marketing is absolutely the same, your campaign, your brand copies a certain lifecycle and we need to understand it. We need to get inspired and see the symbols connecting back to our target groups.

Why not use tarot cards if they have proven symbolic value and a tie-back to people and it follows narrativity. Yes tarot cards can even help you build up an archetypal story - the narrativity - so much needed to connect with consumers. Not to just give them the flashy "5% off next month", but to establish an emotive connection with your ad, campaign or brand.

I find a small, but a useful helper in tarots. I use them dominantly for inspiration, but sometimes
when I want to build up a story I mess around with the deck and just visualize in a different angles the story - where it's going and what it's doing. Sometimes I try to look at the various roles in the campaign - or what have you - through this tarot prism. Some times it's a waste, but sometimes I come up with interesting stuff. Well maybe if you're right now in an inspirational blind spot, this might help you.

Boredom at the Long Tail

In this scene from Tootsie (the first minute of it) Dustin Hoffman makes a mistake - he believes that people (women in this case) really want what they ask for:

The Long Tail allows us to ask for what we think we really want - my iPod is full of stuff that (I think) really interests me - the podcasts and the music. What is missing in my iPod is a surprise. A bit of a different tune coming from nowhere, a bit of pure otherness, oddness, difference and randomness needed for inspiration. In terms of music, last.fm seems to be the half-way answer: it can surprise with a song that you haven't heard...but it cannot really, really surprise since it is still taking you on a guided tour within the confines of your taste (culture?, class?).

The current big thing in marketing seems to be targetting people with messages that they have asked for (gave permission to receive) - because of their interest, hobbies etc. Sounds good but I feel that there is some inherent paradox in this - advertising needs to surprise, needs to be unexpected and often needs to annoy in order to provoke a reaction. If you give me just what I want, I might not spill a champaign in your face but I will definitely get bored and start to ignore you.

Carousel of nostalgia

The famouse scene from Mad Men - click here. 

The self-pitying poetry of an Adman:

Nostalgia

It’s delicate, but potent…
Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound.
It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.
This device… isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine.
It goes backwards, forwards.
It takes us to a place where we ache to go again.
It’s not called the Wheel.
It’s called the Carousel.
It lets us travel the way a child travels.
Around and around and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.
"Mad Men" Season 1, Episode 13, "The Wheel"

The sweet, decaying taste of nostalgia like 2 days old sacher cake behind a glass in Vienna. In the 18th century nostalgia was classified as a disease.  Today it is only a slightly sickening, paralysing desire to go back to the (not only Persil) soft mum and possibly to the hard, right-winged dad who will clean this place from immigrants who steal our jobs.