MARKETING STRATEGY... 2,000 years later.
I'm a big fan and avid reader of ancient philosophy, particularly the Stoics. They really knew the drill on mindset, humans and strategy years ago. From a Roman Emperor to a slave, they taught us well
DISCLAIMER - lots of historical context and the odd Latin word enclosed, but bear with.
Firstly, as I happily pen my 15th monthly Front of Mind, I want to thank you all for your growing support of this. The shares and as well as welcoming the many new subscribers gained since last month. I hope I can repay you with valuable insights, thought and content for you to take away and reflect on in your marketing and strategic efforts.
However, I risk losing you after today’s one, one where I go a little off piste. Then again, what is a newsletter if not a stream of useful consciousness decanted on to the page for readers to use? Alas, thought I would bring together my day job with one of my big interests, ancient philosophy, particularly the Stoics and Stoicism. Again, bear with, this makes total sense!
You see, us Humans really have not changed much, at all if anything. Of course, we have better infrastructure, technology, sanitation, means of communication, swanky new AI iterations by the day and updated laws (thankfully), but if you break it down, the human mindset, the rationalising of the emotional, the pack mentality, the fact you will encounter difficult people throughout your working and living week, that is a tale as old as time, and if we met a time travelling Roman today but wearing clothes from your high street retailer, you’d arguably not notice the difference.
So I always think, why not pull on the wisdom of those who have lived before us, with such a clarity of mind and thought without social media distractions? There are many reasons I read these old texts. Firstly, they provided much solace for my mental health at a time I needed them, and actually provided a little fortification (the Stoics are credited with inspiring much of the foundational principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). Secondly they can ground us all and keep us sane and focussed; maybe in the light of all the marketing and advertising hyperbole we encounter multiple times a day on our feeds and in our inboxes, we can actually use this timeless wisdom as an antidote to the noise, and in turn apply some real common sense.
A 1-minute history lesson - Why the Stoics?
It is very much a practical philosophy, with real world applications to live by rather than pontificate over. Often misunderstood with the lower case stoic (stiff upper lip, not emotional traditional male etc). Its provenance is that from the Stoa, the Greek for porch, from where teachings would happen, by the OG himself Zeno in Ancient Greece. It went on to spurn 3 seminal pieces of work and players most highly associated. Seneca was a courtier and Tutor to the sociopathic Emperor Nero in the Roman Court, so had to reconcile this daily, his Letters to Lucilius being his biggest leave-behind. Epictetus was a slave who had the hardest time and had to fortify himself from the everyday mental ills that could cause; although he never wrote anything down, his teachings are replayed and scribed by his students through the Enchiridion. Of course the rock star was the Roman Emperor and good king himself, Marcus Aurelius, whose personal journal Meditations, no doubt scribed to protect his own mental wellbeing and sanity. Allegedly never intended for publication, it provided a personal manual of the best way to navigate being the most powerful man in the Western world at the time.
A lot of their rules of life and thinking have actually, as well as elevated my own mindset in wider areas of life, inspired and elevated my strategic toolkit and planning capability, I firmly believe. So I want to visit a few principles and discuss how and why they apply. Will discuss some core tenets and principles (Latin translation) and selected quotes (by selected, this was really hard, I could have done 10s if not 100s at one point from the litany of good thinking, but had to be hard on self, so edited it down to just the points that help good strategy; such temperance both a strategic gain and stoic virtue in itself)…
The Core Concepts Applied
“The chief task in life is simply this : to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control…”
~Epictetus
It is easier said than done, but we have a habit of trying to affect, change and worry about the things we honestly cannot impact, whilst equally discard the things under our nose that we can control. We can read the trends decks and observe them. We cannot control the trends and the wave of hype in advertising on new products and culture, but we can make conscious choices whether to adopt them, to be taken along that stream or to stand firm whilst being mindful of what’s around. We can do the research. We can decide to put the resulting insights first before delivering what would otherwise be a flawed plan.
‘If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable’
~Seneca
One of the leading maxims in the strategy and planning world is the notion of deciding what to DO and what NOT to do. By first eliminating the NON-destinations, we can decide, in an informed manner of course, where we are headed. From there we can build out a strategy of how to get there, and in the best way, with the right creative showing the right product to the right audience in the right place. The alternative is a no-go, if we are unsure of the port, then we will be beguiled by noise, unhelpful distractive additions, new ‘innovations’ that do the very opposite of what you want, moving you away from your goal.
’We should read like a spy in the enemy Camp’
~Seneca
Seneca made it his business to be deeply familiar with Epicurus’ writing. The Epicurian School was the biggest rival the Stoics at the Hellenistic time, and despite their pure intentions often came to proverbial blows. Nobody knew how to play strategy quite like Nero’s number 1 courtier mind. Reading the rival school of thought really brings to life the penchant for understanding the competition but also helping frame differences in own work. But most interestingly, borne was the identifying of overlaps, like the theme of Ataraxia (more on that shortly...)
We often like to re-read, review and retweet the things we like and corroborate with our own thinking and frameworks. Why wouldn’t we? But learning the other ways or marketing frameworks we typically shun can only empower us. It enriches us with a new perspective, hopefully counterpointed with our own sensibilities, or worst case enables us to further justify our own superior/informed position. I read a book only last month that felt very growth-hacky and oh my opinion the antithesis of long term marketing and planning. But it was a deliberate challenge to myself, as I both know more about how alternative ways enact, but proudly spotted the nuances beyond the hustle-bro soundbites and identified where there are overlaps. Honestly, I only see upside here.
‘Premaditatio Malorum’
~Premeditation of evils
Basically - contingency planning. A savvy marketeer who plans for the worst case, or at least acknowledged the need for contingency is already a step ahead and prevents (or at least mitigates) panic, wastage and human meltdowns. A strategy will set the direction, and a good plan will plan for scenarios. Many a time I have worked on scenario planning for brands. Particularly for electronics, finance and telco clients who have a number of movable feasts, launch dates and external factors ruining your perfectly crafted timelines, project plans and Gantt charts. Write down all the things that could happen. Brainstorm and be negative for a moment. What if that amazing client leaves? What if the budget pulls? What if the supplier doesn’t get it right? As a Stoic planner I already trust you will get it right and the things in your control will go just swimmingly, but a gentle reminder to, respectfully, expect the worst-case from other players. Only then will you be truly protected from circumstance.
“The impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way”
~Marcus Aurelius
With all your premeditatio thinking you are now prepared for the obstacles. When the inevitable happens, you are not only there to work with it, but to see the opportunity! Remember, the Stoics are all about living in accordance with nature. So when the supply chain is on its arse, you can, like KFC, create that amazing campaign where you do a canny anagram of your brand and apologise for the lack of chicken in the stores. It FCKing works.
‘Amor Fati’
~Lover of Fate
More of the above; I believe this was adopted by the Stoics from the Epicureans. But their writings were about appreciating fate, what happens. It is nature. From the inevitable client rejection of the idea, the redundancy, the fact that some of your output and great ideas just won’t work, it is OK. Is it there in the world and it is out of your control. It is accepting the fate. But also love it, embrace it. Learn from it (but don’t use the word learnings, which somehow made its way into every penultimate slide of a business review in the marketing industry! Then again, it is out of my control, so I accept it)
Apatheia (Greek) later Aequanimitas (Roman)
~Greek (without suffering/passion)
This is a state of mind where one is not disturbed by passions. Peace of mind. Equanimity. (Ataraxia to the Epicurians) In Meditation, Marcus Aurelius outlines the philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.
In a world of trend reports, growth hackers, pithy soundbites and new ways of working and buying advertising space, it would be easy to have your peace disturbed, taking you off nature’s course. But good planning takes into account, and is indeed guided and inspired by following nature. In our world, that is human nature. Understand the customer. Maintain peace by tuning out the external noise. Mute the terms AI and GPT 4 on your news feed. Plan accordingly and orientate product, comms and such to the target audience.
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
~Marcus Aurelius
The last concept (I have to draw the line somewhere) summarises the doing not talking principle of Stoicism. We are in an industry of those who seem to spend their living on panels but we still have no idea what they do. Or there are those who own the Zoom calls with their business- book-informed word vomit to try to sound like the loudest and smartest in the room. Or the hustle bro whose oversimplification rouses a malleable audience. Or the sociopathic CEO or agency leader who talks about change, DE&I initiatives, improving mental health of staff yet the execution does not exist and it turns out all the noise is surface only. But a Stoic strategist doesn’t care about that. (on a side note, they believe in planning a good thing and doing a good thing, the credit part is irrelevant as the work has been done and that is good enough).
The point is. The cheque written is only as good as the cashing of it. Does the big idea translate to a strategy that all relevant stakeholders can get behind? Does the media plan and budget hit enough of the target audience to make an impact and the right ones to convert? Does the creative evoke the desired fame and emotion, and long/short term action the plan’ objective commands. Are you reaching the right port? Strong strategies fall when execution is poor, the work isn’t done and the whole house falls down. Do the work. Live by the principles, and ensure the idea becomes a tangible delivery.
Finally - The 4 Stoic Virtues - strategically applied
The four virtues of Stoicism are Courage, Wisdom, Justice and Temperance…
Courage - to be brave and to do the thing that nobody always wants to do, nor is easy. Doing the right thing and seeing it through. Not letting fear stopping the strategy.
Wisdom - to be mindful of what you know and be sure to use all you know in a positive way, but be open and curious to be taught and fill in the ego-free gaps of the unknown, and use accordingly. Curiosity wins.
Justice - Again, the overriding tenet of doing the right thing, equally NOT the wrong thing, and of course to not be a dick in the process.
Temperance - to practice the art of discipline. To stay in your intended lane, being true to your craft, your values and what you sought out to achieve. To not let your strategy be blown to another port.
To Close
The Stoics were about bridging logic and ethics, with living the good life and being accordant with nature. Good marketing strategy thrives on bridging logic/system and creative thinking with doing the right thing (ethics), enjoying the work to hang your hat on whilst paying the bills (the good life), and connecting with the audience (connecting with human nature).
Appreciate this was a long one. I get into it. I really love it. But to be clear, I am not trying to convert anyone to a secular way of being or thinking, but maybe just a thought that those before us knew a bit, and we should use that. Why would we not aggregate thousands of years of human knowledge to make the present day more informed? Like I said earlier, Human Nature has barely changed, so why should the principles of selling things to people?
Thanks for reading this far by the way. As a reward I will return next month to more 21st century matters and protect you from these more abstract concepts. Although I hope you found it even 10% as interesting as I do; it is out of my control but it is my duty to share the ideas. If so, go forth and do the good work, it is in your control.
SA (c/o Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus & Seneca)
P.S. If you enjoyed any of this Stoic-ness and want to delve a little deeper. I recommend reading Meditations first and foremost. Also modern writers who synthesis it so well like Ryan Holiday and Donald Robertson are great too. Check out Holiday’s Daily Stoic for a great daily email and podcast I enjoyed (and still do) as a good starting point. Strategy-wise there is a litany, though read Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. A solid general strategy book and really honed my what-to-and-what-not-to-do thinking.
I hope you are getting a semblance of value out of this. If so, and you think any other marketer or business owner would, feel free to share/forward this to them and encourage them to subscribe. Also, follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter or even my company page. Thanks and happy reading!