So Your Consumer is Shallow - Embrace It

Marketers are a funny bunch. They desperately want their consumer to like their brand, but, many times, they don't respect that consumer. Have you ever watched many Marketers in the back room at a focus group? Between picking through the bowl to get to the cashews and ordering sushi (not because they like it, but because their boss is there and they want to look more sophisticated - wait, I think there is an insight here), they poo-poo the comments from one of the respondents, because it does not match up with what they are supposed to say. "That's not right. Why are they so stupid? Don't they get it?".

Here is one of the most important lessons to learn as a Marketer. The consumer decides what is relevant, not the brand.

Now, the Marketer can present ideas to the consumer, for their consideration, but the process is much more efficient if the Marketer, working with the Market Research team and the Agency, has done the heavy lifting of Insight Discovery. This is the process of uncovering the little secret that the Consumer holds, that can be positively addressed via a Brand Benefit. Simplistically, this is the "Don't you hate when..." or "Don't you wish that..." set-up that allows the brand, as hero, to come to the rescue, via the benefit it can credibly deliver. This requires well constructed qualitative work, like focus groups and one-on-ones, but even more so, ethnographic work - in-home visits and observational, in-situation work, to see how consumers really interact with the brand, at the point of usage. The benefit may be functionally-based, or may be emotionally-based.

The challenge is, many times the Marketer does not want to accept that the insight, and related benefit, may not be deep, or introspective, or altruistic. It just might be shallow, or even selfish.

Let me provide an example from my past, on Bacardi Rum. It has been stated quite publicly, that the brand is targeting Legal Drinking Age Males, so let's say a 23 year old male. Now, let's look at 2 very different pieces of creative.

1. "Bacardi and Cola" - a campaign that ran in the US in the mid-2000's, it featured a Miami Vice-like duo (white guy - Bacardi and black guy - Cola). Spots like "Pooling Around" and "Names", they were shallow and sophomoric and sexist and funny and.....highly relevant to a 23 year old male. A male who is looking to get "loaded and laid", or just look cool and fit in. No more than that.

2. "Untameable" - the most recent global campaign, that began in 2014, it tells the story of perseverance that the Bacardi family has maintained over the past 150 plus years. It is big and bold and proud and....a history lesson that the 23 year male does not find relevant. The insight around wanting to be part of brands that have substance and complexity just does not fit with the need state of this consumer, at this point in time.

 The miss here was the unwillingness to accept the inherent shallowness of the target consumer's need state. Again, there is nothing wrong with what the consumer wants - they set the rules of relevancy. It is up to the Marketer and the brand to decide if they want to listen, and deliver a benefit that satisfies the insight.

The lesson again, is to really, really listen to your consumer - they will tell you what they want. They may not come right out and tell you. They may tell you by what they do, not what they say (sometimes they are even embarrassed by what they want and why they want it). The key is, watch, listen, learn and apply. Your brand, and your boss, will thank you.