Convergence of Finance and Marketing is a two-way avenue

For over a decade now, if not longer, marketers have had a desire to be line financiers -- create sophisticated mathematical models to predict marketing campaign success, make marketing decisions instantaneously with little human intervention, and to continue dehumanizing their market. The latest iteration in this effort has been the move to programmatic buying. (the "go to" word of 2013) What has been happening at the same time, however, especially with the market decline in 2007/2008 has been finance moves to be more like marketers. Late last year, while going on vacation, I decided to read the book by Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of Federal Reserve, probably the person most responsible for the irresponsible ways of the 2000's market bubble and bust. He wrote the book, "The Map and the Territory" to, pretty much, justify his tenure at Federal Reserve and to analyze why all his grandiose plans failed the economy. In the book, Mr. Greenspan concluded that the reason why he and his friends could not predict the markets, was simple -- human behavior. He delves into behavioral economics, relatively recently popularized by Chicago economics professor Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Steven Dubner in their 'Freakanomics' blogs and books. The premise is extremely simple, everything is math, but with some human behavior. If this sounds familiar, but different to marketers, you are right. Marketing has been the polar opposite -- all human behavior, with some math. Over the past few decades, however, marketing has been moving in the realm of big data, programmatic -- attempts to 'scientize' the field and algorithmize human behavior. This, many marketers feel, would bring them into finance territory -- efficiently generate monetary valu, and more selfishly, make their services more expensive. At the same time, recent financial crises, first in the late 80's, then in the late 90's and then in 2007-2008, has taught financiers and economists that there is something to finance than just efficient markets. It is the human element that "Mad Men" have been in charge of for the past three quarters of a century. The answer lies somewhere in the middle, in understanding the linear, yet chaotic, prejudiced human behavior and logical, measured and scientific econometric approach. What we need is a Spock, a combination of human, emotional, unpredictable mother and logical, process-oriented, historically knowledgeable father. For marketing and finance fields to continue to succeed, it is not enough to refocus marketing on science, to push everything to machine learning and cold, automatic decisions; and it is not enough for economists to add some human modeling into their equations. A mind meld needs to happen between a scientific selections of facts and a human understanding of elements and decision making to humanize stock symbols and brands so that they can have a dinner table (or, rather texting/FaceTime/Skype) conversation with their human partners and contributors.