# Marketing as Reification
## Current Form
Marketing is, at its core, an engine for **reification**—the process of making abstract things feel real, desirable, and worth caring about. It turns ephemeral ideas (lifestyle, freedom, innovation) into tangible experiences, symbols, or products. This is more than persuasion; it’s the shaping of what *appears real* in someone’s world.
This isn’t about existence in a metaphysical sense (ontology), but about creating coherence, familiarity, and resonance—**epistemic trust**.
## Spark
Came from noticing I often say “marketing is an ontology challenge,” but really mean something more about how it creates knowledge, meaning, and conviction through sensemaking.
## Tensions or Unknowns
- What does it mean to reify an idea, and how is that done effectively
- How does marketing make abstract things feel real or worth caring about?
- What epistemological work underpins reification?
- Where is the line between reification and manipulation?
- What makes reification “stick”—what makes the abstract *feel* real?
- Is reification inherently reductive? What do we lose in the translation?
- How do different media (brand, narrative, design, data) contribute differently to reification?
## Next Evolution
- Clarify connection to epistemology (marketing as knowledge-shaping, not just attention-seeking)
- Identify real-world patterns (ads, branding, cultural symbols)
- Explore ethical edge: What happens when reification overrides truth?
- Essay potential in “Marketing as Reification Engine”
### Wayfinding
%% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start
```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
questions AS "Responds to",
origins AS "Informed by",
ideas AS "Developed alongside",
concepts AS "Builds on"
WHERE file.name = this.file.name
```
%%
| Responds to | Informed by | Developed alongside | Builds on |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <ul><li>[[thinking/questions/the future of saas.md\|the future of saas]]</li></ul> | <ul><li>[[The Society of Mind\|The Society of Mind]]</li></ul> | <ul><li>[[thinking/saplings/reification and critique.md\|reification and critique]]</li><li>[[thinking/seeds/marketing's existenial crisis.md\|marketing's existenial crisis]]</li></ul> | <ul><li>[[thinking/concepts/epistemology.md\|epistemology]]</li><li>[[thinking/concepts/ontology.md\|ontology]]</li><li>[[thinking/concepts/reification.md\|reification]]</li><li>[[thinking/concepts/coherence.md\|coherence]]</li></ul> |
%% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %%
>[!info]- ChangeLog
>- [[2025-04-17-Thursday]] - Captured initial metaphor and application to GTM from Marcolongo spark.
## ChangeLog
- 2025-04-17: Seed created based on distinction between epistemology and ontology in marketing thinking.