Welcome to the KPC blog! Here you’ll find fresh commentary on all things marketing and research, from historical anecdotes on marketing and research to the latest in advertising today. If it strikes our fancy, we’ll be blogging.

Summer Hours

Quite obviously, the KPC has been keeping summer hours as of late. Not that I haven't been thinking about marketing and research...but my posting has been sporadic at best.

My lax attitude these past few weeks has made me think a lot about something, though: mindset. I'm a big believer in the power of tailoring messages to the consumers' mindsets at the time they'll receive those messages. For example, if you're selling popscicles, the tone of your message should match the lazy, laid back mental state of someone just about ready to buy a popscicle. This goes for physical state, too. If you're selling popscicles in the winter time, don't put all your eggs in the "it'll cool you off" basket.

Call it the summer hours approach to marketing message development. It works.

More Critics, Fewer Column Inches

This article from Seattle Weekly touches on an interesting (though not particularly surprising) phenomenon: the shift of arts criticism from newspapers to blog-land. In the world of criticism, where journalism is necessarily subjective, there's less room for both blogs and mainstream daily print media than there is in, say, politics.

This story holds an important message for marketers, as well. Those PR contact lists need to expand, and quickly. As has been the trend for years, as newspapers cut back on full-time staff, the media list is increasingly less about the publication and more about the by-line. And these days, the "publication" just might be a blog. And the journalist might not be a professional, he might be a part-time, unpaid appreciator.

But it's the audience that's really important, anyway. And with more and more specialized "media outlets" to choose from, today's consumers of news are increasingly choosy. Which means marketers' messages need to be even more interesting, even more relevant and even more targeted than ever before.

More on Choice

From a libertarian-economist's point of view...
Permalink - 6/14/2005

Very Cool Software

No more excuses for sub-par iPod playlists or weak transitions on mix CDs...
Permalink - 6/7/2005

Too Many Choices?

This Reason article by goddess of style and variety Virginia Postrel debunks one of the more condescending consumer myths out there: that the abundance of choice in the marketplace is somehow a bad thing.

Postrel takes critics of choice to task for their assumptions that consumers are always overwhelmed by the choices available to them on a daily basis, whether they're shopping for produce in a local supermarket, toothpaste at Target or jeans at the Gap. Recently, hip social scientists have adopted the theory that consumers would welcome less choice even if that required compromise in terms of happiness with a product. As Swarthmore psychologist (and, according to Postrel, "grumpy social critic") Barry Schwartz put it, "ill-fitting jeans are a small price to pay for simplicity."

Goes to show what Mr. Schwartz knows about my mind and closet (or pantry, for that matter).

Please, I beg marketers and product designers, don't listen to the suppositions of social scientists, who live and breath research (but often ignore reality). Go to the store yourself. Do a little ethnography. There are lessons to be learned from all this research, but those lessons do not involve limiting the fabulous abundance of choice we enjoy today.

Instead of abbreviating your list of product options, take steps to help consumers decide what's best for them - and to make sure you're products are what's best:

Do extensive user research before the product reaches the shelves. Fine tune those products, then use the language you hear during research to communicate about them.

Develop tools (in the form of informational pieces) that help consumers categorize themselves, so they understand which product they'll connect with best. This could be as simple as "if you like the smell of fresh cut grass, you'll love our Sauvignon Blanc" or as involved as a measurement ratio and emotional checklist designed to help people shopping for jeans understand what fit will work best for them. Consumers remember tools like these and appreciate the brand that provides them.

Focus on design, design, design. Only a few weeks ago, I faced one of the decisions mentioned in Postrel's article - I bought toothpaste at Target. And what did I do? I bought the toothpaste with the most innovative design. And I'd do it again (I'm quite used to the flavor now, BTW).

In sum, I ask again, please don't take away our choices. I love that "overwhelming" moment in the grocery store. You know the one: it's full of potential and possibility. It's fantastic.

Raging against the Shuffle

I can certainly see the point of DJs who dislike the influence of the iPod shuffle on radio formats (registration required) - even though I am right in the middle of the target demo (and I really do like most of the music played on our new Jack station).

It's tough not to blame CBS (and other media conglomerates) for this type of homogenization.