Marketing the Myth II

  I came across a fascinating tale from Hindu mythology which I must share.

  Ganesha, the divine scribe, had a warlord brother, Kartikeya. Being very proud of his physical prowess, he challenged Ganesha to a 3-lap race around the world. Kartikeya leapt onto his peacock and  hurtled across the continents, mountains, and oceans at a furious pace, summoning all his celestial power. He flew around once, twice, while Ganesha lounged about, munching on his favorite sweetmeats.

Just before Kartikeya returned from his final lap, Ganesha stood up, folded his hands in reverence, and circled his parents, three times.  And when his brother returned, Ganesha greeted him with  "I won."

In response to Kartikeya's ire and disbelief, Ganesha calmly countered by saying "You went around THE world. I went around MY world. What matters more?"

THE world is objective, logical, driven by fact.

MY world is subjective, emotional, driven by perception.

Business is the interaction between the behavior of the market and the organization. If the organization's behavior makes the market happy, then the market will reward it. But this requires the organization to understand the consumer's belief system, and consistently empathize with it.

Post wholly inspired by the incredible Devdutt. Watch him mesmerize TED here.

Comments

[Tony Chapman]

Great posting.

[Hitsamty]

Thanks Tony, the insights become so compelling when there's a story behind them.

[Bennett]

still waiting for that impression

[Hitsamty]

for sure bro, come find me during your brief X-mas party cameo :)

[iresha]

Hindu scripture has a lot of pertinent axioms to offer. Thanks for this.

[Hitsamty]

You're very welcome- you should share some of these axioms with me sometime I'd love to hear them