Image courtesy of FlickrEarlier today, I came across this wonderful blog post by Nathan Furr on Forbes (thanks to a tweet by Sarah Prevette) about how kindergartners think differently to MBAs. Nathan cites an famous challenge known simply as the Marshmallow challenge and explains how kindergartners are the top performers at this challenge, simply because they approach the problem differently.
I have always been fascinated by the way children approach things. At such a young age, they are not bound by the same mental rules that you and I are bound by and so to them... the world seems infinitely malleable. They always seem to be in a state of wonder when it comes to their surroundings. It is this sense of wonder that marketers should try and invoke with their brands. What was the last brand you came across that for some reason made you feel like a kid again? A lot of the success of the iPad can be attributed to this sense of wonder which the product exudes.
Next time you are faced with a marketing challenge or perhaps even a challenge to come up with a creative way to do something ... think like a child. Try to ingrain a sense of wonder into the process/product and you may find that people naturally gravitate to it simply because there's always some part of us that wants to feel like a child again.
