"NO" is the Only Safe Answer in Marketing

There's an important reason why marketing as a whole is bland, ineffective and boring. It's because the only safe answer any marketing manager can say to any innovative, new idea is a resounding, "NO!"

Consider this. Let's say someone - a marketing agency, a creative advertising executive, a sales promotion specialist, a savvy consumer - approaches the marketing manager of a packaged product with a new idea. The marketing manager listens and evaluates - and then must say "no." That's because he puts himself in extreme jeopardy if he does anything else.

Scenario #1
The marketer says, "no" and nobody else in the organization ever hears of the idea. He or she is safe.

Scenario #2
The marketer says, "no" and a competitor implements the idea. If it works, then all the marketer has to do is copy it - perhaps improve it - and he or she can justify the decision based upon the logic that the idea was untried and too risky. Now that someone else has worked out the kinks, his or her company can now implement it safely.

Scenario #3
The marketer says, "no" and someone else in the company - probably higher up the corporate ladder - hears about the idea and wants to do it. The marketer can justify the rejection of the idea because he or she is looking out for the best interests of the company and simply didn't feel the idea was right for the brand. Plus the cost didn't seem to justify the potential return. And besides, they hired this person to make these kinds of important decisions, so he or she is simply taking this responsibility seriously. How could the company be upset with such a dedicated employee?

Subscenaio #3A
If the higher-up approves the idea and it flops, the marketer is a valuable hero who probably deserves a promotion. Obviously "no" was the right decision.

Subscenario #3B
If the higher-up approves the idea and it does well, the marketer can fall back on the "it just didn't feel right" position, but has been proven wrong. This does nothing more than maintain the status quo in the company, and the marketer can keep his or her status as devoted protector of the brand without question. At the very least he or she is viewed as not being very visionary, but this is not a cause for termination as could result from saying, "yes."

If the marketer says, "yes" - then all sorts of bad can happen - the kind of bad that threatens the mortgage, car payment, retirement, happy children, a satisfied spouse, paying the credit card balances.

Scenario #4
The marketer says, "yes" and the idea flops. Loss of esteem, loss of credibility, loss of trust - probably loss of job. Marketers are too paranoid to risk this.

Scenario #5
The marketer says, "yes" and the idea does well. Unlikely, but now the marketer will be expected to repeat. Can lightning strike twice - probably not. This will force the marketer to consider saying "yes" again, which is fraught with so many risks that he or she will probably try to take this success to another company than continue struggling to repeat at his or her current one.

So, as all marketers in America know, the right answer to any new marketing idea is most certainly, "NO!" And we get to continue ignoring 99.9% of the marketing and advertising wastefully thrown in our direction.