Marketing Metaphoria by Gerald Zaltman and Linsay Zaltman – A Book for the Marketers and More

I beat the book by arriving at the conclusion that “Marketing Metaphoria” has a much wider application way before I’ve reached the final chapter.  Marketers who wish to reveal the minds of the consumers will certainly find this book useful (Which marketer doesn’t wish that?).  Even if you don’t work directly in the line of marketing, you may benefit from being aware of the key deep metaphors that exist in almost every aspect of our lives.  The book quotes a few case studies in the final chapter to illustrate just that.  I will add one potential application out of my own experience later in this review.

In your line of work, you may at some point in time need to solicit opinions like some of my previous projects – be it as a survey that your team has developed for a market research project or a set of probing questions prepared for a focus group discussion.  The question remains: How do you know if the responses to these questions reveal what the sample audience really think and not what you deem important?  To add an extra level of challenge, your sample audience may not really mean what they say.  How can then you go beyond the metaphors appear at the surface (from what they say) and reveal something deep from within (of what they think)?

This book “Marketing Metaphoria” is a crystallization of hundreds of market research projects across more than thirty countries and it has a simple structure.  The first two chapters build a business case on why recognizing deep metaphors is important.  The subsequent seven chapters are dedicated to the seven key deep metaphors that are common to us.  And the final chapter puts all these metaphors at work through real life examples that go beyond marketing.  Due to the difference in the authors’ background, each chapter has a good mix of academic theories as well as real life case studies.  In a sense, the theories do not appear dry and they do reinforce and substantiate the examples quoted.

Before I get into the how, let’s take a quick look at what deep metaphors are.

Deep metaphors, simply put, are unconscious viewing lenses that structure what we think, hear, say, and do.  And the authors Gerald and Linsay Zaltman created the term Metaphoria that refers to ‘a place where our basic views of the world are formed’.  It is because metaphors transcend our nationality, ethnicity, language, and other differences we may have, understanding how to reveal individual deep metaphors can be a powerful tool.  Applying this skill to marketing, for instance, can help the managers in the areas of market segmentation, advertising, product design, new product ideas, and product positioning.

In the book, the authors present seven deep metaphors that account for about 70% of the cases they have encountered.  These metaphors are: balance, transformation, journey, container, connection, resource, and control.  I won’t describe these metaphors in details.  Instead, I have placed a link at the end of this review for further reading.  What I’ll do here is to give you an illustration on, say, the container deep metaphor.

When we think of containers, we may think of two functions: keeping things in and keeping things out, and they are pervasive.  Believe it or not, this metaphor is deeply rooted in us.  Think ‘from womb to tomb’, we travel from one container to another.  I wonder if anyone can remember one of the old advertisements from Coke (here is the YouTube video).  The theme was “have a Coke and a smile”.  Back then, Coke was described as ‘a container of positive emotions that flow into yet another container’.

How about freedom from a repressive container?  If you take a look at the image on the right taken from the Harley-Davidson website, a lone motorcyclist on an open road invokes the unique American symbol for freedom.  The motorcycle dissolves restrictive containers in life granting its rider the ability to express freely.

“Marketing Metaphoria” addresses each key deep metaphor in a similar fashion: highlighting the various facets on both the application of the positive and the negative sides of the deep metaphor supported by theories, illustrated by examples.

I must admit that this book does not elaborate too much on how to reveal the deep metaphors from the sample audience.  It does mention one technique of asking the participants of the market research to bring along eight images that they think are relevant to the topic.  The interviewer will on the spot scan in the images and create a single picture using an image editing software as the participants talk through it.  Deep metaphors are identified this way.  Perhaps it is the same technique that they have been doing for these hundreds of market research projects.  “Marketing Metaphoria” does not necessarily replace the existing methodology you have already been practicing, in my opinion; it does equipe you with the essential tools to formulate the questions and interpret the responses from the sample audience.

This book, though is an easy read on its own, may require much effort to internalize and apply to your line of work.  Those who are already in the fields of marketing or cognitive science may find it a breeze to read.  In a mere 256 pages (hardcover), it is packed with lots of valuable ideas covering a wide spectrum of industries.  These ideas, I can imagine, are good for those who have a passion to understand what the consumers or sample audience want in a deeper level rather than asking the questions that they deem important.

The last bit of this review is really what I can personally apply based on the new ideas I have acquired from this book.  From my more than a decade of experience in both external and internal consulting work, I often am involved in projects that bring forth change to the organization.  The context is not important here – be it as technology, process, strategy, or others – what is important is: I am here to change the way you work whether you like it or not.

The reality is, seldom people like change.  So project usually puts in a change management piece of work that includes a communication plan amongst others to help transitioning the affected parties into the new way of working.  The number one question from the potentially unhappy crowd would be: How does this going to benefit me?

That’s where internal (or external if you are the hired consultant) project branding and marketing comes into the picture.  Some organizations create project logos, posters, and so on to communicate the change.  The challenge is usually what kind of common message would resonance with the people on the ground who will be affected.

The best time to answer this question is in fact going back to the beginning of the project when the people on the ground are interviewed during the requirement or information gathering activity.  Reveal their pain points using deep metaphors and when the time comes (usually at the middle or towards the end of the project depending on the scale of the project), create a common message that the people on the ground can relate.  In fact, by understanding what their pain points are in the forms of deep metaphors at the early stage of the project may even steer the project in a positive way.

In the closing chapter of “Market Metaphoria”, the authors highlight other applications such as resolving political and personal conflicts amongst others using deep metaphors.  Marketers would treasure this book.  I believe the rest would too and be able to relate.  After all, who is not a consumer in our modern world?

Gerald Zaltman is an emeritus professor at the Harvard Business School, and has served on the Advisory Board of Harvard’s “Mind, Brain and Behavior Initiative.” Lindsay Zaltman is managing director at Olson Zaltman Associates. They are the authors of Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers (Harvard Business Press; May 2008).

ISBN: 978-1-4221-2115-3

Related Link: Seven Giants – Deep Metaphors