Physics and Marketing

Colbey, Dan. "What Physics Taught Me About Marketing." Ted Talk. Ted. Ted, July 2010. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_cobley_what_physics_taught_me_about_marketing#t-139533

Connecting Physics to Business:

Who knew physics would relate to business? Honestly, I never thought it would but Dan Colbey put it in terms that makes sense. In physics, force equals mass times acceleration. In other words, the bigger the mass the more force you need to move that mass. In marketing, brands are labeled with "baggage" to move around with their ads. A brand with more baggage in one direction will be harder to move in another direction. Dan explained this as once a large brand has established a direction with their product, it is hard for them to change to anything different and it is hard to market them in any other way than the usual. This is why one company will have several different brands for one type of product. This makes it easier to point the marketing in a direction and go with it. Another major connection between physics and marketing is the scientific method. In physics, a hypothesis can only be "disproved" and is repeated until a constant outcome occurs. If you have one bad experiment with a different outcome, the entire experiment becomes harder to keep constant and not disprove it. The same thing happens in marketing. Dan connected the Toyota recall as an example. When they recalled their vehicle called the prius for safety reasons, immediately families began to distrust the brand and question what used to be considered the most reliable cars on the road. One bad rep can nearly diminish the marketing just like one bad trial can diminish an experiment. Colbey continues connecting physics in two other ways. One with observation of photons and another with entropy. Multiple ways connect to business marketing and honestly, I did not believe physics would relate. He describes everything clearly and identifies relations not many people would see. I highly recommend you watch this video because it helps you see things the way I do and as this blog and research paper progress, things I post will be easier to relate with.