What is Integral Marketing?

Picture a small, silver encased Palm Pilot PDA device, featured inside a contemporary electronics store. The device is attractively displayed on a basic black pedestal positioned directly below a poster claiming that the purchase of this contrivance will allow its owner “to take your office with you – and work anywhere!” Alongside it is a similarly small, silver encased PDA-type handheld device underneath a similarly placed promotional poster, claiming that the purchase of this device will similarly allow you “to take your office with you – and work anywhere!” and yet, in just as bold lettering, the printed advertisement also uniquely proclaims that this device, when used correctly, “is medically proven to reduce stress levels by 32%, increase quantitative cognition by 17% and might reduce the risk of heart disease by over 26%.”

The Four Quadrants

An Analogy: 4Q Perspectives and the Field of Medicine

To understand the unique effectiveness of a four-quadrant approach, it is important to emphasize the quadrants ever present reality. These dimensions are not components that we could possibly ‘add’- rather they are already-existing realities that fragmented (non-integral) approaches so often ignore.
Just all exteriors have interiors, and just as all multiplicities contain individuals – the four quadrants need not be invented...only acknowledged. Any attempt to treat ‘the human brain’ without its inseparable correlate ‘the human mind’ – will suffer not simply because it is less effectual (i.e. it ignores an opportunity for useful comprehensiveness) but also because it attempts to disassociate what could not possibly be separated (and thus it fails a taste of objective accuracy).

It’s the Neurology

A man experiencing severe depression, one day finds himself meeting an old acquaintance.
“Hey! It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen you. How have you been doing?” asks his friend.
“Well, to be honest, not so well. In fact, lately, I’ve been feeling really depressed.”
“Depressed? Wow. I’m sorry to hear that. Listen, have you tried Prozac?”
“Uhmm…well….no. No. Actually I never really considered that.”
“Why not?! Depression is a neuro-chemical problem! It’s physical!
Your brain is lacking serotonin! You need a neuro-pharmacological solution!”
So our depressed subject tries Prozac. And it does help.

But not entirely.

It’s the Psychology!

Two weeks later, our friend runs into yet another acquaintance:
“So, how have you been doing?”
‘Well, to be honest, not so well. In fact, the last few weeks, I’ve been feeling really depressed. I tried Prozac and it helped. But not entirely.”
“Prozac! Are you mad? Do you think you can just take some little pill and suddenly solve this obviously deep-seated problem? Depression is a psychological problem! A problem of thoughts, of feelings. It’s not your brain that’s the problem, it’s your mind. You can’t solve that stuff with chemicals and medications. You need to talk to someone about what’s on your mind. You don’t need a psychiatrist, you need a psychologist. Get yourself some weekly psychotherapy and discuss your internal issues, your memories, your experiences. That’ll help.”
So he gets off the Prozac and tries psychotherapy. And it does help.

But not much.

It’s the Culture!

Two weeks later, our friend runs into yet another acquaintance.
“So, how have you been doing?”
‘Well, to be honest, not so well. Lately, been feeling pretty darn depressed.”
“What have you tried?”
“Well so far, Prozac. And then I started seeing a psychologist.”
“What?! Prozac? A shrink? Who told you to do that? Depression isn’t something you can solve on your own. It’s an illness that is only solved with friends. You need community. Your depression can only be remedied if you’re willing to undergo a cultural shift. Have you tried group therapy? You need that! You need to talk to other people who are going through what you are going through. You need their support, their advice, their camaraderie.”
So he stops seeing the psychologist. And he tries group therapy. And it helps. But not all that much. So he gets off the Prozac and tries psychotherapy. And it does help.

But not much.

It’s the Environment!

Weeks pass.
“Hey! Wow! It’s been a while since I last saw you. How have you been doing?”, asks yet another advisor.
“Well, to be honest, not so well. In fact, lately I’ve been feeling very depressed.”
“Oh. I’m really sorry to hear that. How have you been dealing with it?”
“So far, I’ve tried Prozac, then a psychologist, and now I’m in group therapy.”
“What?! You’ve got to be kidding! Depression isn’t something you can fix with some drug or discussion. You need to look at your environment. Have you looked at your workspace and seen how cluttered it is? Have you checked out the way your office and home are structured? That environmental stuff, those external systems, that’s what has the biggest effect on your mood.”
So he tries Feng Shui, looks into sick-building syndrome, and cleans up his cluttered desk.

And it does help ... A bit.

 

It’s 4Q: Get Integral!

Finally, two weeks later, our friend runs into yet another acquaintance,
“Hey! What’s up? How have you been doing?”
“Well, to be honest, not so well. In fact, lately, I’ve been feeling really depressed.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Can I ask you what you’ve tried?”
“Well, a lot. Prozac. Then psychology. And then some group therapy. Most recently, I’ve made some environmental changes.”
“Sounds great. And did you do all of them together?”
“Well…no. No, I haven’t. Why?”
“Because last time I checked- you were an integrated person.

Neurology
A person with an individual physical brain with your own particular neurochemistry…

Psychology
an individual mind with your own individual thoughts and feelings…

Culture
who all the while is part of a community with its own collective beliefs, cultural understandings and interpersonal relationships…

Environment
who is always functioning within particular shared physical systems and surroundings…

You see- you always exist within these four dimensions. You never experience them in isolation.
I’d recommend that you try an integral approach.”
So he tries to go integral. All four at the same time In a way that considers each of their importance.

And this inclusive framework helps.
A lot.

 

4Q Marketing Capacity F.A.Q.

 

What is Four-Quadrant marketing?

Traditional marketing techniques tend to communicate the positive effects that a new product or service might have either on a buyer’s behavior, experience, culture or environment. 4Q marketing understands the interrelation of these four dimensions and boldly presents the depth and scope of the product or service’s impact over a user’s entire contiguous life terrain.

 

What’s an example of an exclusive claim that Integral - or 4Q- Marketing could uniquely recognize and promote?

Consider the Blackberry ad mentioned above. Many marketers of handheld devices such as Blackberrys, IPAQs or Palmpilots tend to include some claims of a product’s impact on their users’ office ‘environment’ – namely- that its location becomes less fixed and more flexible (‘you can work from anywhere!’).

A 4Q perspective is capable of evaluating a product’s impact over this environmental domain- as well as the interrelated correlates occurring in at least the three other primary human dimensions.

A 4Q-enabled marketer might note that relieving one’s mental faculties from the burden of storing voluminous quantities of information—i.e. by delegating memory storage to a particular external device, such as a Palmpilot or Blackberry or even a pad of a paper- frees up previously unavailable cognitive capacity for mental tasks of an individual’s choosing whether this capacity be dedicated to increasing focus for an ongoing business negotiation or refining quantitative processing required during a math exam.
Evidence of the power of cognitive distribution is not hidden away from interested marketers. This novel and untapped marketing opportunity has existed and continues to exist. But without a 4Q perspective- one that immediately and effectively understands the interconnection between a user’s environment and their psychology and behavior (and thus a personal digital assistant’s (PDA) impact on a user’s emotional and neurological experience) –marketers have yet to pounce upon the intriguing possibility of marketing a Blackberry for the correlates of its environmental affect. Marketers wouldn’t typically notice that the daily use of a scheduling function, in many settings, can significantly reduce stress levels (as described by user medical questionnaires) in a quantitatively significant way, and which medical doctors have established as being linked to significant changes in cortisol level (stress indicators).
Quite simply, very few marketers of technology would even consider beginning their market research in the field of neurology. Yet a 4Q assessment would just as easily consider the product’s impact from a behavioral/biological perspective as it would frame its effects from within an environmental context.
Furthermore, even fewer traditional marketers would consider a Blackberry’s impact from the perspective of cognitive development. They wouldn’t be inclined to seek out the widely available studies presenting the established links between cognitive distribution (or what happens when you ‘get stuff out of your head and on to a piece of paper/saved-in-computer’) and increased cognitive functioning (yes, you will actually “get smarter”).
And yet- test scores, which show the impacts of using organizational tools, can demonstrate the empirical basis for these claims- and provide 4Q marketers with arguably the most compelling way to sell these devices to all test-taking college students!

So 4Q marketing makes more claims about a product or service’s positive impact?

Correct.
However, it’s not just the chance to see the product’s effects via increased breadth- i.e. more claims. It also offers greater depth -- the opportunity to see a product’s impact from a higher and more integrated perspective.
Without a 4Q approach, traditional marketers might still attempt to communicate a product’s multiple offerings via a cluttered and confusing amalgamation of benefits and positive effects.
Yet 4Q marketing offers not this muddled heap, but rather a coherent and persuasive whole. In our contemporary experience of information overload, this uniquely organized marketing strategy can present a product or service’s positive offerings via a medium distinguished by unprecedented clarity.

What happens if a marketing company doesn’t have a strong understanding of some of the four quadrants and wishes to specialize in assessing a product’s impact in only one or two of the four particular domains?

Being, at the minimum, “integrally-informed” doesn’t require being all things to all people. It does necessitate a basic
acknowledgment of the existence and importance of multiple dimensions of product impact. An integrally informed
business might only focus on one or two of the four fundamental quadrants but it would need to do that whilst accurately
acknowledging its partiality.

 

4Q Consulting

Third Altitude now offers “integral” consulting services. Amongst a number of integral models, it frequently uses the previously explicated Four-Quadrant model in its consulting approach.

How does Third Altitude's Four-Quadrant approach affect its consulting capacities?

Seeing more of the field helps you plan better strategy.
Relative to other strategic consulting firms, Third Altitude has a broader or more inclusive understanding of the multiplicity of influences that affect business, politics and individuals. Using that broad lens, it can better diagnose problems and better recommend solutions that would allow a client to most-effectively meet their chosen objectives.

Often businesses call consulting companies for assistance not because their business team lacks talent – but because they lack perspective.
Business A: First Floor: Capable, but on the first floor. Embedded in its own daily turmoil.
Traditional Strategic Consulting Company: Capable and on the second floor. Capable of seeing Business A within a broader framework that allows for the business to be easily compared and evaluated via traditional and modern business theory.
Third Altitude: Capable and on the third floor. Capable of seeing the business within an even broader framework that allows the company to be easily compared and evaluated via integral business theory, which transcends and includes traditional and modern approaches.

This superior perspective is a primary factor in Third Altitude facility in marketing products and services so effectively. One of Third Altitude's greatest assets is not its refined marketing tactics (though – that it has) nor its creative lateral-thinking approach to problem solving (though it offers that as well).
Its breadth and depth of vision.
Its Altitude.
An altitude which offers greater clarity.
And thus greater opportunities for growth, for innovation,
and for marketing that works.