3 insights in a 3 minute read
Last week I met with executives, lawyers, chartered accountants, investors, entrepreneurs and MBA’s. In the span of a few days I was exposed to over 100 years of top grade post-secondary education and incredible advice on how to sustain our young company’s growth. I am likely more intelligent today through osmosis alone. What I didn’t expect was that some of the most interesting insights I would learn about my business would came from someone that hasn’t even entered grade school.
After one especially long day, I was feeling invigorated by the meetings, but also exhausted from the depth of the discussions. The only thing keeping me from collapsing was the half dozen shots of espresso still running through my veins. As I stretched out on the couch, planning to veg out on some MSNBC (ok fine, it was The Voice), my son, Charlie, asked me if I could tell him a story. A child’s life is made up of stories, whether in books, on TV, at bedtime, at school or in their imagination. Is there a better expert on content than a 4 year old?
And so began my interview:
Me: Why do you like stories?
Charlie: Because they’re interesting, and cool, and exciting.
Me: So, if you had a choice between hearing a story about what I did today and hearing one that I made up, which would you choose?
Charlie: A made up one, maybe about a mermaid and a cow, where the cow says moo to the mermaid and she says hello to the cow.
Me: Who tells the best stories, your teacher, your mom, or me?
Charlie: You and mama, because my teacher’s stories are always learning stories. They are boring old stories. (he adores his teacher, so Mrs. N if you’re reading this, he’s specifically stating that the learning stories are boring and old, not you. You are the wind beneath his wings)
Insight #1: People like stories, not necessarily because they want to learn something, but because they want to hear something interesting, cool and exciting.
Me: What do you think about the commercials in between the stories (shows) on TV?
Charlie: What’s a commercial?
Me: You know when the show stops for a bit and then there’s a little mini show where they tell you about fun new toys or cereal you can buy?
Charlie: Ha ha, dad, there’s none of those on Apple TV (scoffs, in a toddler way, which is somehow even more condescending than when an adult does it).
Insight #2: The next generation won’t even understand the concept that someone will be able to interrupt their stories, they may never experience interruptive marketing.
The end of ad supported TV has been coming for awhile, as is being proven by the rapid adoption of Netflix, Apple TV and even an online only HBO. If Charlie won’t sit through a 30 second TV ad, do you really think that he’s going to put up with an audio ad popping up when he’s listening to his favorite music or that he could even fathom flipping through a newspaper half-filled with ads, just to catch up on yesterday’s news?
Me: Ok, so forget commercials, who’s your favorite character in a story? (The marketer in me had to prove that he was still highly influenced by branding and that my industry had a future).
Charlie: Mickey Mouse from the book 5 minute fairy tales (because who has time for regular length fairy tales)
Me: (Phew, still have a career) What do you like about him?
Charlie: He’s kind and I want to go to Disneyland and I’d like to be his friend.
Me: If Mickey Mouse suggested that you buy a toy, would you buy it, even if you didn’t know if you’d like it? (let’s dig deeper into this beautiful moment of commercialism)
Charlie: Ummmm, yes, but not because I like the toy, because I like Mickey.
Insight #3: Endorsement can promote trial, but long term brand trust has to be earned by the product or service on its own merits.
I’m always amazed at how children look at the world in such simple ways. We enjoy stories because they entertain us. We don’t like it when those stories are interrupted and if someone you really like asks you to do something, you might do it, but mostly because you really like them.
I felt like I needed a strong closing quote from Charlie, but as I started to lead into my Barbara Walters tearjerker final question, my interviewee jumped up and ran off yelling “ok thanks, that was fun, I’m going to build a fort under the table, ok”.
– end of interview –
So fellow marketers, let’s all tell great stories, instead of being the one that interrupts them. Who knows, if people start to like us they might even buy whatever it is that we’re selling.
Thanks for reading, if you need me I’ll be in a pretty sweet fort, under a table.
Jerrid