My daughter has a cat. He goes by the name of Howl (after the Japanese animated movie Howl’s Castle). Here’s a funny thing. Howl knows that the word “Howl” refers to him. But he will only respond to that name when he believes it can help him get what he wants, which is typically one of two things: snack bites or wet food.

Cat Epistemology

It sometimes surprises me how much he knows. The faintest sound of the front door late afternoon makes him jump up because it means my daughter comes home to feed him. He also knows how to catch snacks with his paws in midair.

It equally surprises me how much he doesn’t know. No matter how I try to teach him the wall paper is off limits, every morning, when I come downstairs, I’m greeted by Howl surrounded by wallpaper pieces. He doesn’t mean ill, and he’s also not stupid. It’s simply that he considers the lesson I try to teach him irrelevant. Not consciously, mind you, but subconsciously.

The way cats gain, retain, and act upon knowledge differs from us. Philosophers would say that cat epistemology (knowledge acquisition) happens on a short horizon of awareness and is based in the body toward the immediate satisfaction of primary needs. Sorry, couldn’t help myself here. But you get my point.

Despite his agility and sensory acuteness, there is relatively little cognitive awareness in Mr. Howl. He finds it very hard to think rationally about logical steps toward achieving an objective: if this, then that—that sort of thing. It doesn’t come rationally. Unless food is involved. If there’s little cognitive awareness, there’s even less self-awareness or self-consciousness.

Cats and Marketing

Cats, with their animal ways of knowledge acquisition, can teach us something important about marketing. I mean, marketing in the real world of human beings.

Of course, people are not cats and we better be careful as marketers to realize we are always dealing with human beings: intelligent, multi-faceted creatures who are wonderfully gifted and have something unique to contribute to this world.

But human social groups and distinct social demographics have a few remarkable things in common with cats and their quirky epistemology. As human beings, they are rich, rational, emotional, self-conscious individuals. However, taken together with the members of their social group, they become very much like cats, complete with a certain limited horizon of cognition and a remarkable subconscious existence. As a target audience for marketing, they are at the same time part of something like a hive mind. Weird. I know!

Principle 1. Like Cats, the Market Knows With Its Body

Just like cats know with their body, the market knows certain things at a subconscious level. This knowledge is not conscious because that would ruin everything. Precisely by not being aware of the knowledge it has, the market can respond effectively to marketing stimuli. Because all members of the demographic share particular bits of knowledge intuitively, they will respond intuitively when addressed in a certain right way.

At the slightest sound of the door handle to where the cat snacks are stored or just the words “dinner’s ready!” shouted from downstairs every day at 6:30 pm, our cat jumps up and wants his food. Yesterday! He does not know of the meaning of “dinner’s ready!” nor does he understand what door handles are for. He is simply triggered, because he knows with his body that food is to be had. It is at this level that marketing needs to do its work.

Principle 2. Like Cats, the Market is Honest

Even when marketing is not honest or when an ad promises more than it can deliver, the market is absolutely 100% honest-to-God honest. Why? For dishonesty, you need reflection, and reflection requires self-consciousness. The market has a hive mind and responds without fail predictably to certain stimuli.

Mr. Howl is also absolutely honest. He is honest in his disobedience when scratching the wallpaper off my wall; he is honest in his flattery when I’m going to give him food; he is honest in his disregard for me once his needs have been met.

Understanding this has helped me like cats much more than I did in the past. More importantly, when the market doesn’t respond to my marketing the way I expected, it doesn’t mean my market is not treating me well. It means, I have to change my message, medium, or tone of voice, etc. Or maybe I’m doing it all at the wrong time.

Principle 3. Like Cats, the Market Displays Predictable Behavior

If our markets knew the marketing principles we work with, we would be half as effective. I am still being influenced by advertising, but less so because I’m aware of what happens. If my cat knew I merely give him a little snack so he won’t follow me to my office, which he likes to do all the time, then I wouldn’t be able to fool him.

Because the market is not aware of what it subconsciously knows, its response is very predictable. However, if we don’t apply the marketing principles we’ve learned (or don’t apply them properly), the market won’t respond in the ways our clients want. Predictable behavior works both ways.

When I say “Howl!” after he had his wet food, there is absolutely no response. When I try to call him when he thinks it’s time for food, I’m also wasting my time because he’s already staring at me as if I’m an alien. The market is the same: don’t address the cognitive level but the subconscious level and at the right time.

Principle 4. Like Cats, the Market’s Engagement Is Based on Need

Market behavior is based on predictive, measurable, and researchable subconscious processes. Marketing should therefore address the cognitive and subconscious simultaneously, but in such a way that the subconscious message does the trick. This is why saying one thing at the cognitive level and meaning something different at the subconscious level gets the best results.

There is one important ingredient in all this that cats will drive home without fail. Cats only respond to something that will address their needs, and only when they feel these needs. Markets too will only respond when the message received addresses their needs. Those needs can differ per audience and are not always as base as: “Gimme food!” But if you don’t address a need, regardless of the product or service you’re trying to sell, nothing will happen!

When you do it right, the market will catch the salmon snack in midair, willing to pay a premium for it!

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Cats and Marketing: Catching Salmon Snacks in Midair