Last Friday and Saturday I went with my 8 year old son Jack and Boy Scout Troop 304 to the Battleship New Jersey. It is the largest, most decorated battleship in our country’s history serving in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East from 1942 until 1991. First, I would like to honor all who have served in our military. Thank you!

BB62 was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and launched December 7, 1942 (a year to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor). She was the last great battleship to be built. The next two were started, but never completed. In our 6 hour tour spread over two days, my son and I barely scratched the surface of the significance and brilliance of this masterpiece of war. The lessons to be learned are numerous. In over 50 years of service the Navy knew what to keep the same and what to change.

For example, up until her decommissioning in 1991 they were still using the WWII era analog computer to aim her massive 16-inch guns – it was that accurate! The gunner would hand dial in nine different variables including wind speed and distance. With a range of 23 miles they could not see if they hit their target due to the curvature of the earth. So they would launch floatplanes from the deck who’s pilots would radio back adjustments to the crew.

Some things did change over the years. They removed many of the guns on the deck that were good at shooting down Japanese Zeros with propellers, but became obsolete with the invention of jets. They added Gatling guns that are especially good at shooting down oncoming missiles. And in the 1980’s Tomahawk missiles were added with a range of 870 Nautical miles. (From Camden, NJ where we were docked we could hit Detroit or Miami). The Navy kept what worked but also added innovation. The battleship metaphor for a brand. Coca-Cola comes to mind. Despite being founded in 1886, the brand has managed to remain “Delicious and Refreshing,” a theme they have used to drive the brand since the beginning.

The presence of the Battleship New Jersey during Vietnam, the North Vietnamese refused to participate in the “Peace Talks” until the New Jersey had been called off. Like a battleship the presence of a brand can wield a lot of power. I learned in Brand Equity Management (IMC 613), Coca-Cola is estimated to be worth $67 billion, while tangible assets (buildings, equipment, etc.) are only worth $25 million.

In Audience Insight (IMC 612) we choose a book in the consumer behavior field to read and write a book report about by week five. I chose a book that just published that talks about neuroscience and psychology. Being on a school bus with a sleeping son and a Battleship isolated from the NCAA tournament by 17-inch armament, I was able to spend some time with this book. Neuroscience has presented us with a very different way to think about our brain and how we make decisions.

Since Plato our society has been in love with rationality at the expense of emotion. Philosophers dreamed of an utopian world where human beans made completely rational decisions while controlling their misleading emotions. But as we study the inner workings of our brain, scientists have discovered our emotions play an important part in all our decisions. In fact, a lot of times the reason we make right decisions is that our emotions serve as a short cut summation of all our learning and experience. This gives us an immediate gut reaction (emotion) on whether a decision is right or wrong.

In the early morning of February 24, 1991 as Marines invaded Kuwait; a Lieutenant Commander was monitoring his radar when one blip on his screen felt wrong. It looked exactly like the other blips he’d been watching for months returning from bombing runs. But his split-second decision to shoot down that particular blip took out a missile saving a battleship and hundreds of lives! His unconscious mind made connections between hundreds of previous real and simulated experiences and translated the knowledge into a gut feeling. The emotional mind made sense of something the rational mind could not perceive or explain.

A recent article in Advertising Age spoke about rational versus emotional advertising. Are rational arguments or emotional engagement more effective? In writing their new book “Brand Immortality,” the authors analyzed 880 case studies from the U.K.’s Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Effectiveness Awards. The result? They were able to show that emotional campaigns are almost twice as likely to generate large profit gains over rational ones. I think there needs to be a balance, but we have seemed to favor rationality without completely understanding the impact of emotion.

What did I learned sleeping on a battleship? Spend time with your family, no matter how busy you are. If it isn’t broke don’t replace it, but don’t forget to add Tomahawk missiles. And if you don’t have a floatplane to predict advertising effectiveness, try neuroscience.

Keith