By Kaitlin Villanova
I was recently skimming through an advertising and marketing copy handbook (trying to advance my skills because as my boss and Marketing Maestros contributor Will Waugh reminds us, content is king) when I came across a brilliant section on assumed constraints, recalling some of the most famous in history:
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." Ferdinand Foch, commander of Allied Armies in World War 1.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." Irving Fisher, professor of economics, Yale University, 1929.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas Watson Sr., president of IBM, 1943.
"So we went to Atari and said 'Hey we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said 'No.' " This was related by Stephen Jobs, Apple Computer co-founder, on his attempts in the mid-1970s to get Atari interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research report says America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." In response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields Cookies.
And last but not least, my favorite... "640K ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, 1981.
All to often in advertising and marketing we assume constraints that aren't really there. We create limits to a product or an idea restricting the advertiser and the agency from unleashing the full creative potential. Next time you find yourself thinking an idea sounds a little too wild for your product or service, remember these examples of assumed constraints!
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