I just finished reading Purple Cow by Seth Godin. It’s a
short little book with a silly title but a big idea. As our consumer culture
rapidly expanded in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s a fairly consistent approach
to marketing developed. Create a good, solid product that appealed to a mass
audience and then advertise, advertise, advertise. In those days people actually
paid attention to TV, radio and newspaper advertising. Fewer products existed so being good was good
enough. Once your product began selling you made small changes to tweek it over
time while raking in the consumer’s cash.
Those
days, for better or worse, are over. Today people are
so inundated with advertising that many completely tune it out. Much of
what we
turn to for entertainment is advertising free (ipod vs. radio for
music), has
limited advertising (news
on-line vs. newspaper) or allows us to opt out of advertising (TV shows
on DVR or on-line.) The number of products consumers have to choose from
has
skyrocketed. Some of you remember when the choice in sneakers was
Converse high
or low top, in black or white. When we do choose a product, we now often
expect
it customized to meet our individual preferences and needs. I’m writing
this
post on a laptop that's not an off the shelf model designed for
everyone, but made to my
unique specifications.
For those who make products or offer services (like summer
camp) the meaning of these changes is increasingly clear. Products or services
need to be targeted to smaller groups with similar needs rather than
standardized for the masses. Traditional
mass media approaches to advertising don’t work. It’s now about reaching people
who want to be reached by “liking” you on Facebook or following your Twitter
feed. Most importantly, Godin says success today and in the future is about
being remarkable. Not good, solid, safe, big, dependable…but remarkable. It’s
about standing out to people who have an incredible number of choices. It’s
being bold enough to capture the attention of people who have tuned out most
advertising. It’s about leaving behind the one size fits all approach and
honing in to meet people’s unique needs.
This revolution in consumerism and marketing creates some difficult questions for camps?
- How do we create a camp experience that stands out from the other options kids have?
- How do we tailor our experiences to meet camper's unique, individual needs?
- How do we market to people who tune out traditional marketing?
- How do we become remarkable rather than routine?
