So over this last holiday season, my five year old asked me to purchase a doggy Christmas stocking while we were at the pet store. I smiled and explained to this pumpkin that it was a “total waste of money.”
Before you go getting all horrified at my lack of Christmas cheer and start calling me Scrooge McLittle Bird, let it be known that we don’t even own a dog. I mean, I do not wish to vacuum dog hair out of the couch and suffer the joy of discovery when said animal pukes in my very cute slippers.
Now, knowing all of the facts, I think you’ll agree with me that regardless of the great job this ad agency did to make this purchase appealing, it is still a total waste of money for this particular household.
On the other hand, notice how my cutie pie was captivated by the prospect of having a Christmas stocking for a dog, and how perfectly the marketers tapped into the magic, wonder, and sentiment of making a couple pieces of felt stuffed with dog treats and toys a viable POS item. That’s ‘point of sale” people, not the other phrase you were probably thinking. It’s my personal belief that a dog would have been the ultimate upsell in this case. But I digress.
Isn’t this my job, if you really boil it down to its barest element? To take something and attach meaning or emotion to it, so that it grabs the attention of a random passer-buyer (yes, that was intentional) to create a visceral emotional need that demands action … in this case purchasing.
I think there are times when I get caught up in the “glamour” of marketing and have to then realign myself to the simple fact that I am, at my core, a story teller. When our company is presented with a product or service, we get the honor of actually creating an original back-story, which in turn connects with the target audience in such a way that there’s an immediate connection that develops into an emotion. My child made the connection without having to intellectually understand that there would be no dog to enjoy this purchase. The back-story populated beyond reality. As we say about five-years-olds in my house, “they are unencumbered by the thought process”. The story traveled directly to his heart. It said, “I will buy that because it will be cute for a dog”.
This is why I love what I do. So, I know you are all wondering. Did that event make me in any way want to get a dog? No. But it did make me want to go buy the doggy Christmas stocking and study what marketing strategy worked for that particular campaign. And that’s not a total waste of money ... especially since it’s now marked down 50%.
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