Reason #8: The “It” Girl
Recently, I was reminded of the definition of the “It” Girl from high school “All the guys want to date her, all the girls want to be her”. The second half of this definition had always fascinated me. What does it mean to be someone else?
Perhaps it means to experience what they experience, to hear what they hear, and to do what they do. At a deeper level, it might mean to get into the mindset of that person, to think what they think, to want what they want and to need what they need.
Hey, from a marketer’s perspective, I want to be an “It” girl, too. As a matter of fact, I want to be all 65 million guys and girls from 18-34. How incredible would it be as a marketer, to get into their mindsets, think what they think, and know what they want and need?
And not from a broad targeted demographic standpoint, either. But, on a very granular one-to-one level. I want to know what each one of them thinks, wants and needs. Not in general, but at this very moment.
And, to go a step further, I want to tell each one of them, in customized language that I know will resonate differently with each one of them, why they would absolutely love my product or service. And I want to be able to change that language an hour from now, when a new stimulus causes them to think, or want or need differently.
My daughter can do exactly that right now. She can tell me at any point in time, on any day, where her five closest friends are, what they are doing, and in most cases what they are concerned about, want or need that exact moment. How does she know? Her friends are in constant contact, on their mobile phones, at all times.
The mobile phone is probably the closest proxy for being the “It” girl as we have ever seen. Yet, as marketers, we don’t really think about it that way. Why don’t we leverage the mobile phone’s full potential to connect people who want and need things at a particular moment with the exact things they want or need at that moment?
What a lost opportunity – at least until someone figures out a way to do it.
Thought provoking. Are you impliedly suggesting there may be a means of monitoring handset users’ thoughts by deciphering the content of what they are texting?
Mark, nice blog post. This makes me think of the opportunities on Facebook that advertisers are beginning to think about taking advantage of. It’s one of the only places where a person puts their demographic and psychographic info on a daily basis. The opportunities seem huge!