• 0

Marketoonist | Tom Fishburne

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

  • Campaigns
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Cartoons
  • Contact
  • Book
  • 0

evidence-based marketing

September 30, 2018

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
TweetLinkedInFacebookEmail

It can be difficult to separate myth from fact in marketing. There’s a lot of marketing folklore passed on as inherited wisdom. It’s also far too easy to cherry-pick data that supports our pre-existing point of view. And there’s always a shiny new thing that captures everyone’s attention until the next shiny new thing comes along.

The first time I came across the work of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, I was skeptical. Byron Sharp’s book “How Brands Grow” rattled many firmly-held marketing “truisms” from my training in consumer packaged goods, particularly on the role of loyalty.

General Mills had a whole course on finding and marketing primarily to brand loyalists, which they called “Brand Champions” (a nod to Wheaties). The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute disputed that whole approach in favor of focusing on light buyers buying more.

Their work made me question a lot of my thinking, and that made me uncomfortable. I realized how much all of us in marketing have to learn, continually. I think working in marketing today means that we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Your Ad Ignored Here
"If marketing kept a diary, this would be it."
- Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs
Order Now

In the spirit of continually challenging our marketing thinking to be more evidence-based, I’ve been reading a fascinating new marketing book coming out soon — appropriately called “Eat Your Greens.” Created by Wiemer Snijders and the APG, it features essays from 35 different marketing thinkers on the topic of evidence-based marketing (including some of my favorites — Mark Ritson, Rory Sutherland, Tess Alps, Doc Searls, Mark Earls, Byron Sharp and Amy Wilson, Bob Hoffman, and Tom Goodwin). A few of my cartoons in there too.

Here’s how Mark Ritson describes some of the move toward evidence-based marketing:

“These thinkers came along with data, replication and science to puncture many of the helium balloons of horseshit being inflated across the conference stages of the marketing world. They questioned brand love, for example, and found a more realistic, polygamous but still useful concept. They challenged the idea of differentiation and the absurdity of much of the overcooked, incredibly self-aggrandising brand positioning.

“In general, evidence-based thinking reminded marketers that brands were not such a big deal after all for consumers. And that recognition of their diminutive scale led to some very big ideas.”

Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years.

“Shiny Object Syndrome” January 2015

“Marketing Seat at the Table” May 2015

“Marketing Data Pitfalls” November 2014

Filed Under: data-driven

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Your Ad Ignored Here Book Image

15 years of Marketoonist compiled for your marketing pleasure.

Order Now

About Marketoonist

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne a career marketer and cartoonist. Learn More...

Browse Blog Posts

Most Popular Cartoons Browse Categories

Marketoon Campaigns

contentmarketing

Content marketing with a sense of humor.

Learn More

Keynote Speaking

speakingworkshops

Insightful, funny, and visual keynote talks and workshops.

Book Tom to Speak

Search Blog Posts

Interested? Let’s Talk!

Footer Form - Let's Talk

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Marketoons

Browse Categories
Spacing Things Out

About Marketoonist

Tom Fishburne is the Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons.

© 2025 Marketoonist