Know the culture
Knowing the culture - the case of the Reality TV guruHowdy. Here in Australia we have a show called Big Brother. It's where they toss 12 people into a house for 12 weeks and film their every move.
Each week a person is voted off by the viewing public.
The eviction happens on live TV on a Sunday night.
The type of people who vote to evict people in these sorts of shows are typically teenagers, and more precisely teenage girls.
Here's a pop quiz.
Who would it be best to ask about who is going to be evicted next week?
* Teenage boys
* Teenage girls
* 18+ yo women
* 18+ yo men
* Melissa the Orthodontist who lives next door to me
If you chose teenage girls...............you're wrong!
The best person to ask who is going to be evicted on Big Brother is Melissa (she of the dodgy film choices - see Monday's blog).
Melissa loves Big Brother and watches it a lot. but that's not the reason she can tell who is going to be evicted each week.
Melissa knows because she does this:
Kid hops into the dentist/Orthodontic Chair - I made that up. I have no idea if it's called an "Orthodontic Chair".
Melissa starts chatting to the kid to relax him/her so they don't start freaking out (Please note: I said him/her to cover both sexes. I'm not suggesting that Melissa's patients are some strange half girl/half boy mix. Or that she treats 2 patients at once to save money!).
Melissa's first question is: "So who do you think will be evicted in Big Brother?"
The kid then tells Melissa what they and all their friends are thinking about the people in the Big Brother house and who they are voting to evict.
Over the course of a week Melissa sees lots and lots of kids. And they all tell her who they love/hate/like/despise in the Big Brother house.
Melissa has never been wrong in her selection of who will be evicted each week.
She chose a guy called Wesley to be evicted last Sunday. But a girl called Bree was evicted. Was Melissa wrong? Nope. Some clown at the phone company made a mistake and they miscounted the votes.
Wesley should have gone
It was really Wesley who should have gone. So the show's producers stuck back in this Bree girl and evicted the "...insipid, pretty boy, Mr. Boring, Wesley."
Heh, not my words.......that's how one of Melissa's patients described him!
It's about knowing your market
Just because you or I or your friend or my mum or your brother don't like a product or need a service, doesn't mean that it's not the perfect product or service for a lot of people.
It's a matter of immersing our businesses into the marketplace, into the culture, into the demographic that is interested in our products.
If you sell swimwear, there's not much point in having a store in Alaska. (BTW, if you want to see the worst way possible to display clothes on the web, take a look at the way they do it on this site....boring.)
If you sell Ugg Boots, then you're probably not going to have much luck selling to eldery people who live in the tropics.
Know your market and your business has a much greater chance of success.
It's been a busy week here with a few things happening and at 6.35 on a Friday night I really have to go home and kiss the wife and tickle the children.
Have a good weekend.
Brendon
[ comments ]
http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_portal?action=do_lang_splash&form_name=lang_splash&LANG=en&STYLE=en&VIEW=uk&LAYOUT=default
I'm pretty sure we have people who takes bets on it. It's crossed my mind once or twice. I'd better go check now.
Cheers!
Brendon