perception beats reality OR perception trumps reality

(other options)

Se trata de una de las reglas doradas del marketing. Podría incluir algún link como referencia pero, si buscas la frase entrecomillada en Google, vas a encontrar más de 6.000.000 de resultados.

Suerte!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 31 minutos (2011-12-13 18:01:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry for writing in Spanish! As I said, this is one of the golden rules of marketing. I could include some reference links but, if you search this phrase in Google, you will get more than 6,000,000 results.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 horas (2011-12-14 02:13:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In fact, the translation I suggested is a conclusion to which I arrived after doing some research on the Internet (I didn’t find a reference link showing that the Spanish term is an equivalent of my English translation, it is just a deduction).

The original text refers to a marketing study which allows to identify, among others, consumers and specialists’ perceptions of certain products and adds between brackets the phrase “percepción mata realidad” meaning that perception overpowers/is stronger than/trumps/beats/supplants reality. So, I understood that, for marketing purposes, perceptions are more important than reality... so important that they are worth being identified by means of a study.

In doing my research on the net, I searched for the words “perception” and “reality” and came across the phrase “perception is reality”, which refers to a marketing concept based on the philosophical debate of perception vs. reality. But why is perception more important than reality in marketing? Because what consumers perceive of a product is what will make them buy it (or not). This is what the concept of “perception is reality” is about… This is why “percepción mata realidad”. It seems like, in marketing, perception rules.

Now, considering that the concept was coined in the English-speaking world, I believe this should be respected and therefore the original English phrase should be used. “Percepción mata realidad” is already a translation of this Rolling Stone magazine concept (and indeed the less frequently used in the Spanish-speaking world).

Below are some links in which the term is explained in English and Spanish. I hope I made my suggestion clearer in this way.

http://smallbizbee.com/index/2011/07/29/a-marketing-strategy...

http://ezinearticles.com/?Marketings-First-Rule:-Perception-...

http://www.appraisalpress.com/news/articles/appraising_your_...



http://www.bienpensado.com/percepcion-es-realidad/

http://www.gacetadeprensa.com/noticia/6862/

http://www.mktglobal.iteso.mx/index.php?option=com_content&v...

Another suggestion. This is a commonly used set expression which is what I believe you are asking for. While literally it is quite different, the meaning is similar to "percepción mata realidad".

Not literal, of course, but it is in the logic of the proposition: if perception "kills" reality, then it is everything.

More importantly, it is what we say in English:

Perception Is All: Making Judgments
www.managetrainlearn.com/page/perception-is-allperception is all, an explanation and anecdote about why outside reality is about what we perceive it to be.

Marketing Training
www.commercial-awareness.com/marketing-training.phpThere are two meanings to marketing. Firstly there is marketing as a function, in the same way ... Perception is all. There is no such thing as a product. ...

S & S Marketing Inc. Marketing
www.zyworld.com/ssmarketng/Marketing.htmWe are regularly called upon to assist our clients on various marketing matters ... seriously in an age where brand perception is all, no matter the arena. ...

Perception is all : European Risk Insurance Management News ...
www.commercialriskeurope.com/cre/778/15/Perception-is-all/8 Jun 2011 – Perception is all. By Adrian Ladbury .... The market is trying and, as noted on the front page of yesterday's AIRMIC daily, in the cyber and ...

A valid and punchy translation, in my view.