Surreal or Serious?

I had a great day at the museum the other day, saw artwork by my favorite artist Salvador Dali. That evening when I retired to my study to ruminate over the day I had a strange thought, like always Dali had left me thinking about the artwork and what may have been running through his mind when he painted his masterpieces. The idea of penetrating into his mind was both trying and puzzling, some of his early surrealistic work is somewhat scary.

I can't believe how many times I felt like that when I see products on shelves across the country and around the world. We create products and then find a market for them. Somewhat like the patrons experience standing in front of a surreal artwork in the museum. It is one thing to be the first to market, communicate a value proposition and initiate a dialog BUT it is a whole different thing to have target consumer segment, identify her needs and develops products and solutions she will embrace. Fortunately there is more science than art to modern marketing. It is a repeatable process unlike art where each piece of art is a new start.

Interestingly a scientific process has posterity to it where as art could be a serious gamble. One could end up at the Museum or on the aisle to be painted over?