Human-Driven Experience

5The Importance of Moving from Predicting to Anticipating

The present defines the future. The future builds on the foundation of the past.

—Lailah Gifty Akita

Ultimately, marketing is about telling stories. Some observers peg the beginning of marketing to the mid-1400s and Gutenberg's invention of the movable type printing press, which made mass printing of fliers, posters, and books far faster, easier, and less expensive than existing printing methods. However, I believe the origins of marketing can be traced back even further, to the prehistoric humans who first started using tools.

At some point after they gained the ability to speak with one another, these early humans started to make small cave paintings of wild animals, other humans, and even stencils of their own hands. They used these paintings and other forms of art to tell stories that would connect them more closely with their family and members of their tribe or clan, and to leave something behind.

So, if you think about this as core to marketing, which is to tell stories about the aspirations, the momentous occasions, and the needs that people may have—whether you're selling toothpaste or a car or a home—I believe marketing today has its roots in our prehistoric past.

Just after Hurricane Sandy devastated New York and New Jersey, I was asked to make a presentation on social media. I was in a new role at Bloomberg, and until I was hired, the company had forbidden social media. I needed to come up with a theme ...