Time to Break a Hip-ster

I was reading a blog post by the Mensch of Manhattan, GeorgeTannenbaum, where he talks about Coming Apart; the growing disconnect between we advertising people and the consumer:

Do we, anymore, know our consumer. Know how they live, think, feel, buy? Do we understand their concerns, fears, senses of humor?
No.
We're too busy trying to be cool.

Then, today I saw a related piece at fasctcocreate.com.  It’s called, Infographic Confirms it: Advertising People are not Normal.  (Like someone needed to do a poll to find this out.)  It is about a study done by Heat, a San Francisco agency and what it highlights has some bearing on how we view brands and social media.  Of note, the study finds:

• 71% of advertising/marketing professionals say they pay attention to brand posts in their Facebook news feed “all of the time” versus 23% of the general population.
As for Twitter: 92% of advertising/marketing professionals use Twitter to follow brands they like. 33% of the general population does so.

Should brands put more effort into interacting with consumers via social media?

• 63% of advertising/marketing professionals “strongly agree” that they should; 23% of the general population “strongly agree”

Meanwhile, digital marketing campaigns that are endlessly discussed in the advertising industry aren’t so well known in the wider world. Chew on this:

• 70% of advertising/marketing professionals were aware of Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” digital marketing campaign vs. 8% of the general population; as for the mega-award-winning Jay-Z "Decoded": 63% of advertising/marketing professionals aware of campaign vs. 9% of the general population.

And the study also seems to suggest that the Mad Men stereotypes aren’t off the mark: Subjects were also asked about how they act at office holiday parties, and it appears that people who work in advertising are more likely to puke from drinking too much (37% vs. 9% of the general public); do drugs (26% vs. 3% of the general public); and hook up with a coworker (26% vs. 8% of the general public). If you work in advertising, these results likely aren’t surprising to you.

You're right, they aren’t even though there are many who will scoff at the results. There is, however, a home truth here. Within agencies, we tend to look inward, towards each other more often than outwards, where the rest of the world lives.  What we believe is happening on the street appears to be more a case of confirmation bias than of reality.  More important, this bubble we’re in can impair our judgment.

  © Heat 2012

 

Maybe the zeal we have for social media platforms is because we are always trying to chase the youth market.  But here are the facts, Jack, about the state of the economy and why chasing this crowd is wrong-headed, courtesy of Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian and Nielsen. People over 50:

• control 77% of all financial assets
• control 50% of all discretionary spending...

• baby boomers dominate 94% of all consumer packaged goods categories.

• they purchase almost 40% of consumer packaged goods

• they account for 1/3 of all TV viewers, online users, social media users and Twitter users.

• even in technology categories, where marketers assume young people dominate, baby boomers  "are purchasing at rates just as high as other segments, and because they are often buying for their kids, many are double-dipping."
• less than 5% of advertising is aimed at them. 

Maybe we should pop this bubble and keep Yogi Berra in mind more often: You can observe a lot by watching.