Thinking Physics to increase your ROI

The theory of everything applied to marketing: The Big Bang

Editor’s note: this is part one of a series.

While unusual I must admit on occasion I have been known by relax by reading about various physics topics—quantum, particle, string theories, etc.

As a result I have read quite a lot about the four basic forces of physics, which are:
1. Electromagnetism
2. Strong interaction (“strong nuclear force”)
3. Weak interaction (“weak nuclear force”)
4. Gravitation

Fundamental to physics is The Theory of Everything (TOE), which is physic’s ultimate goal: a theory that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena. Following on the TOE premise I thought: “Could one join every known interaction in marketing and advertising into a single unified continuum? Something that would explain everything?” I think the answer is yes.

According to most physicists the origin of earth began with the advent of the Big Bang, a theory and a catastrophic event, which occurred about 13-14 billion years ago.

What Would the Equivalent be in Marketing/Advertising?

When I was a student, the acronym AIDA stood for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Fast forward 30 years and I find myself in a conference room listening to a client pontificate about “the decision funnel” and how it applies to car buying. After three decades, it’s the same concept, from general to specific and big to small. Given the objectives, I believe it’s time to reverse the entire concept as noted in the figure below:

Let’s say you’re planning to spend $1 million on a house in South Gables, Fla. What value would you expect for that level of investment? Most likely you could expect something on the order of: a 10,000 square-foot lot, a 3,000 square-foot home, a two-car garage, a large pool, state-of-the-art appliances and excellent building materials. In other words, you’d have something tangible, solid and measurable.

Now following that analogy, if you spent $1 million on advertising, exactly what would you have? Shouldn’t you know? What happens at the end of the money? Let’s follow an example.

Suppose you own a hamburger fast food restaurant chain and your yearly ad budget is $20 million. What are the expectations as a result of this expenditure?