« David H. Liu Memorial Lecture Series in Design at Stanford | Main | 2: See and hear with the mind of a child »

Comments

Yes. Completely agree. When I first started working in race cars it was with the intention of becoming a better automotive journalist. The deeper I got into it, however, the more I realized that the interesting part was not talking (or writing) about racing but racing itself. And I never went back to journalism.

I think you're right. I just started my first marketing class in an MBA program and we've talked a lot about focus groups, market research, etc but there is a lot of value in doing it yourself and experiencing it first hand.

On a side note, this is the reason I hate Facebook...because people talk about experiencing the world instead of actually experiencing it. If you post to your Facebook status saying "Vince is working out at the gym." well...that's not quite true. The truth is that you're updating Facebook and telling people you're working out at the gym. Anyway, I digress.

Vince's comment is particularly depressing. To my mind, a marketing class (indeed any class) should focus on the what and why and far less on the how. Being prescriptive about how you find things out can only serve to limit what you find out.

This is a principle with which I identify on a visceral level. It has always felt true and obvious, but if your decision maker doesn't see it, you will have problems.

Many years ago when I helped create a corporate identity package for my (then) employer, we were ruled in marketing by someone who did not consume anything outside of hockey. Also, the president and VP of engineering did not watch TV or have outside interests beyond the company.

Trying to create something that would engage actual customers (i.e. people who live in the world) was a real challenge. I don't know that we succeeded, but each day was an uphill battle of:

"This would appeal to the buyer demographic because of X,Y, and Z."

"I don't like it because it's not blue and also I don't think anyone uses Amazon.com."

If you don't know what your target audience does, you can never engage them.

Design of any sort is a participatory sport.
TTFN

I realize this comment is a long way past the original post, but your points seem particularly relevant at this stage in the evolution of social media.

As more and more companies are prompted to play an active role in the online spaces that are supposed to matter to their customers (prompted by their vocal communications teams or agencies), we see a heaping pile of dialogue and discussion, but I'm not sure if it prompts appropriate and meaningful action.

And that is a shame: it seems like we're doing a lot of talking to hear ourselves speak, but not enough experimentation and learning, especially in environments where our customers can play an active role in the prototyping and improvement.

Thanks Diego.

All this Internet age makes people from one hand to know everything, but on the other hand they forsaken passion and understanding.

In the case of Honda's truck - actually they're right, if you do not want to be there, buy a driving simulator and stay at home. that's it:)

truck rental

That way they can get a feel for all the intangibles which are lost in translation, as language, photos, and even video are imperfect mediums.

http://www.accountinghomeworktutor.com

One of the fundamental insights that's helping us re-imagine our lives in a brighter, greener cast is that most of the time, we don't want stuff, we want specific needs fulfilled or experiences provided; that, as Amory Lovins puts it, we don't want refrigerators, we want cold beer -- if there were a better, cheaper, cleaner way of providing cold brews, most of us wouldn't shed a tear to see our fridges go. Recognizing that this is true for nearly every product in our lives is revelation number one.

http://www.businessmanagementaccounting.webs.com

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.