Here’s what we do for a living: Figure out who it is that our clients’ brands need to talk to, and then do some talking to that group. We get used to calling them “targets” in our jargon, but they are really just people. And a conflict usually results when a client starts thinking they are the target when in reality they aren’t the target at all. But the weird thing for me lately is that I realize I may be the target for one of our clients in the pet health category, VPI Pet Insurance.
I already owned my Siamese cat, Crenshaw, for 6 years when we began rebranding VPI. VPI exists to help pet owners handle the costs of health care for their pets. You see, the target, who we named Committed Karen, sees her pet as a family member. She wants to do everything she can to keep her pet healthy and happy, but she isn’t thinking ahead to what it might cost her if her beloved animal gets sick, or hurt, or otherwise needs veterinary care. Few pet owners think ahead. I know I didn’t.
I grew up with a yard dog. His name was Jo-Jo and he lived in our back yard. I loved him and fed him and played with him, but I don’t think he ever went to a vet. And he lived 14 years, through hot summers and freezing winters. Dad would hang a hot lamp in his doghouse to keep him warmer during the cold snaps, but it never gets all that cold in Birmingham. Jo-Jo lived a happy life. And that was my perspective on pets. That is until Crenshaw.
That cat has had more problems than a kennel full of Jo-Jos would have ever had. And guess what, every time my wife and I are faced with the what-do-we-do-now decision, we write a check. Committed Karen would do the same. Lately, for ultrasound readings and endoscopy biopsies, we have written $1400 worth of checks. He’s been diagnosed with hyperthyroid, with megacolon, with all manner of hard-to-detect and harder-to-treat illnesses. He yarps all over our carpets and sometimes doesn’t poop for days, he eats like a linebacker yet lays around listlessly and is losing weight. We’ll know in a day or two from the biopsies what the next round of treatment will be. And we will write more checks.
VPI could have been helpful, if I was a policyholder. The small monthly insurance payment would be nothing compared to the large, unpredictable vet bills. It’s too late for me to get Crenshaw the coverage that would help us, but at the very least, I have taken a vow for him on VPI’s thatsagoodhuman.com.
If I get another cat in the future, I am changing my name to Karen and signing up.

One of the tools that marketers have in their arsenal to try to engage their targets is music. Hey, everybody likes music, right? As consumers, we listen to music as entertainment, a way to enhance experiences and make life more enjoyable. And ever since Nike used The Beatles’ “Revolution” to sell us shoes back in the late 80s, we have grown accustomed to hearing songs we love, songs we hold dear to our hearts, in association with the marketing efforts of brands that want to relate to our lives, whether we like it or not.

But the problem for marketers, needing to be relevant to and in touch with the consumers they need to attract, is how to choose the right songs for that group of consumers. This problem exists because nobody listens to the same music anymore. Mp3 players, free downloads, and ear buds have fragmented our musical listening experiences down to the personal level, which is the way each of us wants it. We listen to what we want, when we want it. We don’t listen to the radio anymore. If we do, it’s a satellite station of our choosing, designed around a niche. Each of us is a niche, with our own play lists from our own devices playing the soundtrack to our own lives into our ears, for no one else to hear. Or share.

There is undoubtedly a lot of great new music out there. But which new track from which artist will appeal to a large group of consumers in the same way? It’s anybody’s guess. There is no safety for marketers when there is no common ground.

But everyone is familiar with old songs. Just look at this list from 1969. If there are more than 20 songs from that list you haven’t heard, you probably are under the age of 25 and are the only child of strict, non-musical parents. Because that music came from a time when we all watched the same TV shows at the same time every night and heard the same songs on the same radio stations, then went out and bought those songs on vinyl discs that we all played on our home stereos.

As music to market by, old music is arguably more relevant to a large audience than newer songs, simply because we HAVE all heard it, and shared it. It will elicit an emotional response that maybe we as marketers can better predict.

At least not young children. That is the sense that I am getting from the new movie being released on October 16, 2009. An adaptation of the classic children’s book, the movie has a darker, more sinister feel than many of the book’s core audience may be ready for. Especially since readers of the book start at about age four.

Let me start by saying that I view this book as one of the most formative of my youth. But what a book leaves up to the imagination of the reader, the movie fills in. And while my imagination when reading this book at age four may have only been able to take me so far, the movie takes the viewer where Spike Jonze, the director, wants you to go. Regardless of your age. So it begs the question, to whom is this movie marketed to? Children, teenagers or maybe adults who grew up with the book? I’m guessing it is more of the latter two. The kind of movie that a parent would take a 14-year-old to, not a 4 year old. Which is definitely not a typical target for movies.

I do however, acknowledge that anything that is truly different and unknown makes people apprehensive. When the book first came out there was a negative reaction. Librarians would not order it and parents were concerned about its dark imagery. But children loved it. Sendak claims that is because it respects kids. It doesn’t talk down to them. So I hope that I stand corrected and that children, young included, actually like this film. That is if parents allow their children to see it.

And since this film has been in talks for many years now and only Spike Jonze has gotten Sendak’s approval to bring it to the big screen, let’s hope that their vision will have the same impact on many of today’s children that the book once had on me. And that all this controversy will just make more people go and see it.

Here is an interview with Sendak and Jonze.

As marketers, we’ve all fallen into this trap. We look at the description of the target audience and say, “That’s me!” Then we start thinking we can be the ultimate judge of the creative work and all we have to do is pick the ad that appeals to us personally. But it’s not that easy. No matter how much passion you have for the brand you work on, no matter how much you resemble the target persona, you’re still not the target. Here’s why.

1. You care too much. It’s not possible for you to be impartial when making decisions about the brand’s communication because you have a personal stake in the outcome. Of course you can still make good decisions; it just means you need to remember that the target audience doesn’t want your product. They only want what it can do for them.

2. You know too much. Even your best brand advocates don’t know your brand as well as you do. Your target audience doesn’t know your brand’s quarterly sales figures or manufacturing specs. They might not even remember your tagline. To reiterate the point from above: they only want to know what your brand can do for them.

3. You think too much. You spend a lot of time thinking about the product, the brand, the distribution channels, the competitive environment, the purchase decision process, and so on. The reality is that the target is not going to think that hard about it, even for a so-called high-involvement purchase decision. They may only think, “What can this brand do for me?”

So you’re never really the target. That’s great! Why? Because you don’t have to be the target to communicate with the target.

But what you do need is the right insight about who they are to start a meaningful conversation about what your brand can do for them. And when you’re ready to judge the creative work, remember whose eyes you need to look through.