Byron Sharp with a message to the industry: “Marketing is the discipline without discipline”

Creativity, intuition, and new ideas are an important part of the marketing industry. But if you don't embrace and understand the science behind the profession, you're failing.

That's according to Byron Sharp, one of the marketing world's most influential experts.

In an interview with Markedsføring, he states that too many marketing professionals still rely on gut feelings instead of actually getting to grips with the science of the profession.

“Intuition and creativity are incredibly important things, but they need to be grounded in some understanding of how the world works,” he says.

His book “How Brands Grow” is based on many years of evidence-based research into brand growth, loyalty and purchasing behavior – including the introduction of concepts such as  Mental Availability and Physical Availability  – and his message to the marketing industry is clear: “Marketing is the discipline without discipline”.

Hans knows that the message will provoke, but his point goes beyond his own book.

The problem, he believes, is that marketers generally tend to see fundamental professional knowledge as something that can be acquired on an ongoing basis, for example through podcasts, LinkedIn and conferences.

“And the funny thing is, it doesn't work that way in engineering. Or medicine. Or finance. But in marketing, people feel that basic knowledge about their field is almost optional. They can learn it along the way,” he says, adding:

“And then they wonder why the CEO or CFO doesn’t respect them. It’s a paradox, isn’t it? Marketers hate it when a CEO or CFO says, ‘Anyone can be a marketer.’ No, just like medicine, finance, and engineering, marketing has laws and regulations that you can’t negotiate with.”

“Where will we be in 20 years?”

As head of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute in Adelaide, Australia, Byron Sharp has spent years challenging some of the industry's most ingrained beliefs about brand growth, loyalty and segmentation with his research, and he will soon be coming to Denmark to deliver his first official Danish keynote ever.

However, it is not his first visit to Danish soil, he reveals.

"I've been to Denmark a few times. And I still remember all the bikes. But my visits have been to Pandora and not in an official context," says Byron Sharp, who is also quite enthusiastic about Pandora as a brand.

"I like to think of Pandora as the Zara of jewelry. Fast and accessible fashion, but only for jewelry. Jewelry has traditionally tended to be very exclusive. Positioning itself as something that is not very accessible, and certainly not for teenagers and young people," he says, elaborating:

“But Pandora changed that rulebook and rolled it out worldwide. So they’ve really managed to build  Mental  and  Physical Availability  in an impressive way.”

Read the full article in Mediet Markedsforing.