As marketers, it’s easy to lose touch with what consumers and customers actually experience with our brands. In the bubble of our marketing offices, writing strategy decks and brand architecture documents, we sometimes over-inflate the role our brands play in peoples’ lives.
I once interviewed for a job with a senior executive at Apple. He told me that every Saturday, he worked a secret two-hour shift at his local Apple store. He wouldn’t tell shoppers about his primary day job. On Saturdays, he was just one of many Apple employees helping shoppers buy products. He said it helped keep his main job in perspective.
I gave a talk last week to a global marketing team for a pharmaceutical company, and dug out a 10-year old photo from when I was helping launch the method brand in the UK. In the early days, I used to do some of our own in-store sampling myself (occasionally with help from my family). I found that it was free market research (and nothing gets people to stop more than having cute kids at the table with you), but more importantly, it helped me avoid the marketing ivory tower trap.
Nothing exposes marketing B.S. quicker than a conversation with an actual consumer. All the marketing babble justification that went into a packaging redesign, new product feature, or campaign language evaporates the moment a consumer doesn’t get it. It helps keep our brand egos in check.
Sometimes a box of croutons is just a box of croutons.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years.
“Inside the Mind of the Consumer” January 2014
“Brand Loyalty” December 2016
“How To Define Your Product” January 2003
Chris says
You hit the nail on the head here! I worked in market research for over 10 years in the actual Ivory Tower across a wide variety of brands. The move from focusing on brands’ functional benefits to an emotional connection has been taken too far. The emotional connection in positioning helps cut through the clutter in advertising and differentiate a brand, but most CPG products just need to deliver performance at a good price/value? It only takes a few minutes to see that when watching how most shoppers blitz the aisles at any grocery store.
Nate Challen says
Thanks again for inspiring our team, Tom! I already referenced this picture you shared in a meeting we had since then. I said, “when Tom was giving out samples with his family, I bet he was learning a lot about his consumers.”
As we’ve been thinking about the purposes our brands serve, it’s challenging finding the right level of aspiration to provide inspiration to our teams, remembering that for the consumer the real reason they buy our brand is often something much simpler. On the other hand, if it’s truly just “a box of croutons” though, then they will choose the cheaper store brand every time. Our brands do need to sustain some edge in the minds of our consumers – whether in this case it’s quality, taste, innovation, or maybe some purpose that gives us an edge.
Last week, you also shared with us the example of the Innocent smoothie brand’s knit hat promotion, which showed you can differentiate and elevate the brand from the competition while still staying connected with the consumer. Thanks again!
Ashley C says
Great post as always, Tom. I’m happy to hear I am not the only one who “keeps it real” through informal interactions with consumers! When I was an ABM on Oral-B, I used to drive out of the city early on a Saturday morning to my “local” mass merchandiser stores & pretend to stare helplessly in front of the manual toothbrush aisle, asking folks to help me pick out a toothbrush (apologies if any of you fell victim to my questions!) The candor was amazing – so was the laughter, the snickering & the head-scratching as to how difficult it can be to shop that aisle/category. Those experiences truly helped drive some solid shopper/category management strategies. Priceless. When you feel yourself getting caught up in the possibilities of (re)inventing & optimizing, remember to KISS it all off & Keep It Simple, Silly.
Tomas C says
Awesome post, thank you for sharing these observations so well! I think this also extends to us designers as well – we get so caught up on making the offering as perfect as possible. I’m still a novice marketer: does ivory tower syndrome apply more to everyday, low stakes products? Is it warranted in some situations?
Allen Roberts says
Several of the category shaping products I (and my team) launched in Australia came from interactions with consumers at the sales face in supermarkets.
I used to enforce time in the field with merchandisers on my product managers. Some hated it, and they moved on, others loved it, stayed and prospered.
Jack J Ogden - MD, Content Hero says
Abso-bloody-lutely. Marketing spiel is bullshit. Sometimes, people just want a box of croutons. But let’s not forget some marketers do create great experiences that sway customers to buy a specific thing. Maybe not a specific box of croutons, but certainly an important purchase. Like a car, or a phone.
Jakk