For many of us in marketing, it is sometimes a challenge to work with very technically oriented people. They seem to see everything in terms of spec-points and checklists.

Imagine this story. Three guys running an engineering company wanted to hire a secretary. They agreed that they needed someone who could use Microsoft Excel, Word and the occasional PowerPoint. They also agreed that she had to be good with arranging schedules and handling clients who call. So, after interviewing 20 candidates, our three guys decided that Ms Scarlet would be the best - she had cute long legs.

How many times have we thought about buying something, listing out all the “features” that we want, calculating our budgets and so on… then throwing it all away when we walk into the store and see this latest and greatest gizmo that you would just die if you did not own?

Marketing is an art. Sure, there is a science to it. But there is no way that anyone is going to convince me that the pure mechanics of marketing can beat the power of a creative streak that is unsupported by any statistics or history.

Ask the market, “Do you need a Spreadsheet?” In fact, think about it, before they came out with it, how many of us ever imagined that the “presentation software” would be so important to our daily, working lives?

If it were up to the “bosses”, no on would have launched anything new.