Marketing Metamorphosis

I was listening to a story on NPR today about a study that showed moths can remember things they learned as caterpillars. As soon as I heard the topic I was immediately intrigued. These are the kind of stories best listened to by myself. I can't imagine a whole car full of people being as transfixed as I was listening to this story on Morning Edition.

My first reaction to the story idea — moths remembering things from their days as caterpillars — was that somehow the researchers had found a way to get them to take a multiple choice test. But I forced my imagination to calm itself so I could hear how the researchers came to this conclusion.

The researchers exposed the caterpillars to some highly unpleasant gases well before they were to begin metamorphosis. Over time, the caterpillars came to avoid the areas with the unpleasant aroma and stayed in the "clean air" section of the cage.

Within a few weeks, the caterpillars formed their cocoons and began the process of metamorphosis. During metamorphosis, the bodies and brains of these tobacco caterpillars basically liquefy - they turn into a genetic soup. And within a few weeks, a moth emerges.

The researchers then exposed the moths (those who had been exposed to the foul smelling gas as caterpillars) to the gas again. The moths immediately avoided the aroma. However, moths that had not been exposed to the gas as caterpillars were not turned off by the aroma. Hence, the researchers determined that somehow, the moths remembered the unpleasant experience they had as caterpillars, even though the "soup" they came from had been broken down into the most basic genetic building blocks possible.

Fortunately, learning to fail successfully in marketing and advertising doesn't require us to completely turn our brains to mush (although sometimes it feels that way). It does, however, require us to put metrics in place that allow us to learn what worked, what didn't work as well as we would like, and what never to do again.

If a moth can remember something that happened to it as a caterpillar, then as marketers, we can put metrics in place to help us gather facts to make better decisions going forward. Perhaps we just need to morph a bit ourselves.