“If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.” ~ Malcolm X
Today’s notable unsubscriber award goes to Peter R. who says, “You talk about sex way too much for me to attribute any more credibility to you than I would a frat boy.”
Funny, before I saw that note — I was already planning a sex / marketing metaphor.
Without sex we would quite literally cease to exist. The primal desire to ensure the survival of our genes has driven the evolution of our species for thousands of years.
There’s a fantastic documentary series called ‘The Science of Sexuality‘ which, if you can find the whole thing, is about six hours long. The pathways in the brain that urge procreation are some of the oldest — but they’re not only used for sex.
The same patterns of behavior that power sexuality guide other decisions too.
The manner with which we make space for a potential mate in our minds is fundamentally equivalent to the way we visualize a product before we purchase it.
It’s not a matter of what the product is. It’s a matter of how it fits into our lives.
I’ve written the ending to this email three times and each approach I attempt leads me to an hour long discussion about neuroscience and human behavior.
For the sake of brevity: if you’re interested in sex, data, and cognitive science — take a look at ‘Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking)‘ which was written by Christian Rudder, the Founder of OkCupid. It’s an illuminating read.
If you want to learn marketing, you have to learn people.