As contradictory as it may sound, think about it and it’s true. Complexity is simple. Some people say that usually the simplest answer is the right one. In fact, it usually is. The other day I was in a conversation from one of my projects in market research for school. We interviewed the man who wanted us so desperately to find out why he’s not selling. After hearing him out, he finished off by saying something like “So you see, my situation is very complicated”. My team and I wrapped up the interview and went to get some coffee to review our situation.
Eventually what we thought about and concluded was that his situation was not really complicated. It was complex. Of course a business is complex, his business is that way. There are many factors to consider and that influence the outcome, or lack of it for that matter. It was a matter of finding out which factor was not working out. Watch Eric Berlow say it himself (http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_berlow_how_complexity_leads_to_simplicity.html)
As time passed by and we did our research, it became so obvious and so clear what the problem was. Amazing how moving some pieces around could make a real difference. The man was absolutely amazed and even he realized himself that there were no complications, there was complexity in his case.
So, in a marketing utopia, there wouldn’t be either complications nor complexity. But in reality we at least have complexity. That’s really what makes it interesting. You rearrange things, pull some pieces and you are left with a magnificent strategy. So you see, you don’t need to try out circus-like maneuvers to come up with the right strategy. After all, complexity is as simple as you want to make it.