“They think they "understand the consumer." They don't understand shit”

This is Di...

My mum is 65 years old (sorry to mention this in public, Mum!). She lives in Essex, has three children, two grandchildren and works in the local Co-op. 

Her name is Diane but most people know her as Di - especially my brother, sister and I, which we do mainly to wind her up.

The ads that Di sees: Life insurance, funeral costs, will writing, anti-slip baths and “bloody hearing aids”...

Makes sense on the surface, doesn’t it?

The problem is Di couldn’t really give two shits about any of this, to be honest. 

Di is actually a massive football fan. She has a Tottenham season ticket, records most of the games to re-watch (even if she has been there live), watches the Match of the Day highlights and plays walking football on Wednesdays. (Oh, and she got married at the old White Hart Lane).

Why am I telling you this?

Well, Bob Hoffman, the Ad Contrarian, recently shared research from Ipsos Canada comparing the beliefs of 300 marketers to the self-reported activities of consumers. The variance was quite concerning. (Article here) As an industry, marketers don’t know their audience as well as we think or as Bob puts it:

“They think they "understand the consumer." They don't understand shit”

The example of Di above backs this up. It shows how our obsession with demographic-base marketing is flawed. We bunch people into groups based on their age, make assumptions on their interests and hope this will bring in successful marketing results. For example, there is still a fixation with marketing to Millennials and Gen Z (despite the three big wealth brands being over 45). 

How much ad or marketing spend are we wasting by using lazy, outdated, age-based campaigns?

Instead, can we find ‘tribes’, ‘fandoms’ or groups, where people are emotionally invested in the subject to create more powerful and ultimately, more successful marketing and advertising?

Naturally, if we could find out everyone’s passion point (like Di’s obsession with Tottenham), the lives of marketers would be much easier. 

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple but let’s get as close to those real drivers as possible so we don’t resort to outmoded, basic demographics to target our audiences.

Which is precisely our goal at BBI.

(When I asked her what ads she typically sees...”I get it now, I’ve just realised, they obviously know I’m old lol ??”)

BBI is a content-led performance agency.

We fuse analytical and behavioural data, unearthing real world insights to grow established and emerging brands to create content that people love and encourages actions.