Marketing is Mushy—Stop Pretending the Data is Solid

There’s a quiet little lie in marketing that we all agree to believe: consumer research is truth.

Ask around, and you’ll hear marketers throw around survey results like they’re sacred.

Personas built.

Audiences narrowed.

Brand strategies locked.

All based on what? A bunch of opinions from people who might barely care, just trying to finish the survey and collect their points.

Let’s call this what it is: mushy.

You Can’t Build Strategy on Mush

Dan Yankelovich called this out in the 1980s with his “Mushiness Index,” a way to measure how soft and unstable survey data actually is.

Nobody wanted to hear it then—and not much has changed. 

Here are the four dimensions of Yankleovich's original framework: 

The Four Dimensions of Mushiness (based on original framework)

1. Relevance / Care: Do respondents actually care about the topic?
   

2. Self-perceived Knowledge: Do they feel informed? Confidence beats correctness.
   

3. Social Deliberation: Have they discussed it with others and solidified their views?
   

4. Openness to Change: Would they admit they might change their position 

These questions were shown to be predictive of whether survey results reflected meaningful consumer attitudes. 

Still: marketers still grab the nearest research deck like it’s a shield.

It’s safer to say, “We’re following the data,” than to admit that most consumers are distracted, indifferent, or politely guessing when they answer your brand awareness survey.

But, marketing is already full of gray areas, because marketing is mushy.

Building your plan on top of squishy data just stacks uncertainty on top of wishful thinking.

I’ve seen it firsthand. A marketing director I worked for once took a single open-ended survey comment—something like “I like news that gets to the point and doesn’t waste my time”—and made that the brand slogan. Word for word. That’s not strategy. That’s laziness disguised as insight. Total BS.

Research Can Help—If You Use It Right

I’m not anti-research. I’m anti-false-confidence.

Good research starts with good questions—and an understanding of how people actually behave when they don’t care that much about your brand.

Most people don’t wake up thinking about your yogurt or your insurance app. So if your survey is too long, too complicated, or too inside-baseball? You’re gonna get filler responses.

Some rules I live by:

• Don’t rely on one method. Pair quantitative data with qualitative input—talk to customers, listen to what they say (and what they don’t).

  
  

• Gut-check the questions. Would someone who truly doesn’t give a damn still have a way to answer this meaningfully? If not, rewrite it.

  
  

• Look at how respondents are incentivized. If they’re clicking through to earn points, assume half of them are phoning it in by question 20.

  
  

• Personas are for positioning—not precision targeting. They help your team get into the mindset of the buyer, but narrowing your media buys to just those personas? That’s a fast way to shrink your reach and your results.

Want Growth? Go Wide First. Then Get Smart.

Marketers have been praised for narrowing their audience to save money. We’re told to make our media buys “efficient.” And yes, sometimes that’s smart. But efficiency at the expense of growth? That’s a trap.

Just like Byron Sharp laid out in How Brands Grow: you don’t scale by obsessing over the edges. You grow at the top of the funnel.

But too many teams take shaky survey data and end up building tiny castles on imaginary islands of customer insight.

And then they wonder why the campaign flops.

Let’s Stop Worshiping Certainty

Mushiness didn’t catch on because it makes the job harder.

It forces marketers to admit: “We don’t know for sure.”

And for a lot of teams, that’s terrifying. Especially when your neck’s on the line for performance.

But, here’s the thing: certainty is a trap.

You’re better off acknowledging the soft spots early—so you can test, adapt, and avoid bad bets—than pretending the numbers are bulletproof and hoping nobody calls you on it later.

The Bottom Line: Marketing IS Mushy.

Data is helpful, but it’s not sacred.

Don’t build your strategy on what people say just because it feels easier than watching what they actually do.

Respect research. But question it. Poke holes in it. And use it as one input—not the entire playbook.

Because mushy data won’t just mislead you—it’ll rob you of better, bolder ideas.

How to Spot Mushy Data

• Are people likely to care about this topic? If they’re indifferent, their answers probably don’t mean much.
  

• Do they feel informed? Confidence (not correctness) matters. If they’re guessing, your results are fluff.
  

• Were the questions clear, relevant, and short enough? If your survey feels like a tax form, your data’s gonna be garbage by page 3.

  
  

• How were respondents recruited and incentivized? If they’re just there to get points or a gift card, assume a high level of 'get this over with' energy.
  

• What’s the sample size—and is it actually representative? A pool of 1,000 people might not be nearly enough if you’re trying to segment five personas from it.
  

• Are you using more than one method? Blend behavioral data, qualitative insights, and social listening to stress-test your assumptions.
  

• Is your team using the results to inform—or to justify? If research is being used to 'prove' a direction that’s already been chosen, you’re not learning—you’re lobbying.
  

• Is your media targeting based strictly on personas? Personas help guide tone and creative—not restrict your audience reach. Don’t let research box you in.