The Marketer’s Curse
I would suspect all marketers have it (PR folks, creative types, writers, designers…count yourselves amongst the cursed). What is it? It’s the inability to shut off analyzing advertising (print or TV), packaging, branding, news releases, campaigns, bill boards, radio spots, PSAs, articles, etc.You know what I mean, right?
No matter what we’re doing—driving, reading, watching TV, on the computer, shopping, at a game, out to dinner—it happens. We see a TV commercial or print ad (or other marketing) and we immediately start analyzing who the target audience is—in demographics—in a spilt second:
- Sex
- Age
- Race
- Income
- Education
- Location
Then, after the demographics, we analyze the creative and copy. And then we immediately make a snap judgment: Yep, they got it. Wow, they totally missed the mark.
Last week alone, Scott Monty (@scottmonty) mentioned a discrepancy on Listerine packaging on Twitter; Jane Chin (@janechin) was analyzing a Lilly ad on Plurk; and Frank Martin (@frankmartin) was dissecting commercials that suck.
It happens all the time, we can’t shut it off. Sometimes it’s just a passing flicker and sometimes what we analyze just really bugs us. And that’s the analysis that gets discussed, Tweeted, Plurked or blogged about.
We know why we do it. We are trained to do it. But, Julien Smith asked a question recently that had me pondering the real reason we analyze every piece of marketing we see or hear. He asked: “Are you a Fixer?” [hat tip: @webconomist]
What do you think? Why do we constantly analyze? Is it because we think we can fix it? Is it experience? Or is it arrogance?
[Photo: Carrick]
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Tags: Frank Martin, Jane Chin, Julien Smith, Marketing, Marketing Analysis, Scott Monty, Webconomist
10 Responses to “The Marketer’s Curse”
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I could spend all my time blogging about the below average work that I see every day. But what would be the point?
Sure it may well be easy to point out the inconsistency, the poor use of colour or the fact that most TV ads don’t follow the basics of storytelling. But all marketing is easy from the outside looking in — no client, plenty of hindsight and not a deadline on the horizon.
Sometimes I think we do this out of jealousy. Or arrogance. But really, it is just sport.
Thanks for the hat tip…
You’re right, we’re trained to do this, so we analyze everything.
Maybe in part it helps us do a better job? By seeing what works or doesn’t work, perhaps we absorb and apply it in our own efforts?
One of the reasons I started the Ice Awards was because work was bad in the region, agencies were complacent. The awards added a critical outside view, it forced better work. Now the region thrives…
Beth, you are SO right, as usual. For me I think, my experience may make me a little arrogant.
That admitted, I think we, as marketers, hold other marketers to a higher standard, and BAD, poorly conceived, sloppily executed or half-ass marketing is something we believe reflects poorly on our profession, and on US by extension. So we distance ourselves from mediocrity by calling attention to it, and we celebrate the good stuff!
Thanks, and good post!
I see myself doing this all the time, now that you mention it!
It’s a bit of arrogance but I think it relates more so to our growth as marketer’s and being able to tell what is good or bad. We’re learning on a daily basis at work, which takes up the majority of our time, so it’s only fitting that we carry our learnings into other aspects of our lives where we somewhat take the role as the teacher.
Gentlemen, thanks for the great feedback and conversation! It’s much appreciated.
@GavinHeaton, ‘just for sport.’ Love it. But you are so right about the below average work. And yes, hindsight is always 20-20. But when you have a client, a deadline and 20 opinions, it’s never there.
@webconomist, absolutely. It’s easier [and better/cheaper] to learn from other people’s mistakes. The competition aspect is interesting to me. With so many in the US, I wonder if they are as effective any more.
@FrankMartin, so perhaps it’s a bit of arrogance that makes us dislike and call out half-ass marketing. Who wants to be associated with that, right?! Again, it’s the notion that ‘anyone can be a marketer.’ And that’s not a true statement at all. I just wish companies would understand that and those placed in positions of marketing would self-educate. Then perhaps we’d see some stellar work.
@SonnyGill, agreed, we learn through trial, error, and experimenting (that’s the science part most folks forget), so why not pass our education along?
I’m like this with typefaces. I’m like my WWII-vet father was with airplane silhouettes. I recognize them in use, and wonder what choice I would have made. Sometimes I really wonder what some designers are smoking!
@RickWolff, yes, you are absolutely right…typefaces can make or break a piece! And it drives me nuts to see 5 fonts at one time. That’s when you know someone threw a marketing project at a non-designer.
My curse is mostly with TV ads, and that’s sort of weird, because I don’t write much for TV. But TV is what most civilians relate to. I think I feel that lousey ads (and there are so many of them) kind of tarnish my profession, or embarrass me in some way, so I feel the need to point them out and critique them with my fellow viewers.
Beth, Great Post, I certainly find myself doing all the things you mention, although I am not a marketing professional, only a avid marketing enthusiast interested and fascinated by what works and what doesn’t. Perhaps a point to ponder is “Marketing excellence, just as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder” Setting aside really bad marketing, if truly great marketing aimed at a specific target audience can only ever be understood as effective by that given audience, and you aren’t part of that audience, then likely it is seen as not so good. An example is some of us love to fly Southwest, but others only see cattle call lines, no assigned seats, no frills.
Keep up the great posts, we all learn a lot from the connections and exchange of ideas.
@LloydLemons & @EricBrown, great additions to the conversation, thanks!
Lloyd, there are a lot of bad TV ads for sure. You wonder what they or their agencies were thinking. Some are not so funny, some are offensive, some are just plain odd. But, there are a lot of great ones too! And I think those we run through in our minds in a split second and let them go. Or, we tell others about them. It works both ways.
Eric, excellent point! "truly great marketing aimed at a specific target audience can only ever be understood as effective by that given audience, and you aren’t part of that audience, then likely it is seen as not so good."
Perhaps when we aren't the audience, we just don't get it…but as marketers, we still can figure out the demographics and behavior of the audience/community from the ad. I can appreciate ads/marketing outside of my personal demographics. I think analyzing them is what helps us grow as marketers and gets us outside of our comfort zones.