In a recent post, I disucssed how the book (soon major motion picturing starring BRAD PITT [there, that should help my page rank]) “Moneyball” teaches marketers to think about creating metrics that make sense rather than relying on old, outdated ones.
I vividly recall reading that book in a Marriott in West Hartford, Conn. in between some focus groups. One concept jumped right out at me and begged me to apply it to marketing, the concept of not making outs.
In that previous column, I mentioned a pivotal point in the book, in which statisticians explained to Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane that it mattered less whether a player got a hit and more whether he did not make an out. The number of hits in an inning can vary from zero to infinity, but the number of outs remains constant at three. Avoiding making outs prolongs the inning and thus promotes scoring.
After reading that passage, I believe I put the book down on the nightstand and said something along the lines of “holy cats.” (Disclosure: I most certainly did NOT say “holy cats.”)
I vividly recall reading that book in a Marriott in West Hartford, Conn. in between some focus groups. One concept jumped right out at me and begged me to apply it to marketing, the concept of not making outs.
In that previous column, I mentioned a pivotal point in the book, in which statisticians explained to Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane that it mattered less whether a player got a hit and more whether he did not make an out. The number of hits in an inning can vary from zero to infinity, but the number of outs remains constant at three. Avoiding making outs prolongs the inning and thus promotes scoring.
After reading that passage, I believe I put the book down on the nightstand and said something along the lines of “holy cats.” (Disclosure: I most certainly did NOT say “holy cats.”)
