Whose side are you on?

“It’s about humans; it’s not about advertising”

Ilon Specht (author of L'Oréal Paris' iconic “Because I'm Worth It” slogan)

There is much that is problematic with the theology of ‘insight’ as presented by the self-appointed members of its Inquisition. But even if one were to reject the various articles and tests of faith they demand and think more simply (heresy!) in terms of useful understanding, I have come to believe that as a way of thinking about our intended audience, it is still not quite enough.

Whether you call it insight or understanding, while useful it still leaves us regarding the consumer from the outside, still treating her or him as nothing more than a curious (and often rather alien) object of interest. Or worse, a mathematical or engineering problem to be solved. It might be news to some (including customers themselves) but the purpose of marketing is not finding clever ways to dispose of what we make, but the art and discipline of creating genuine customer value.  The distance (or outright alienation) that insight does little to collapse does not encourage, compel, or help us create the greatest possible value for those we are meant to serve.

Sure, develop useful understanding of the consumers needs, wants, and aspirations. But I’d argue we also need to find something that we love about our audience. Why are they awesome? What do we admire them for? What do we respect them for? What’s the amazing truth about them that doesn’t get appreciated, or is misunderstood, or misrepresented? What do they have that the world needs more of? 

This matters because it is impossible to do great work for people who you don’t want to see succeed, win, thrive… For people whose side you are not on. And pick a side - their side - we must, if we are to live up to marketing’s true mission.

This is not an invitation to start conjuring up the garbage known as the ‘aspirational consumer’ or those self-validating delusional fantasies that pass themselves off as audience descriptions. It’s not a theology or an arduous and complicated intellectual undertaking. It’s not another step in a strategy process, framework, or template. All we need to ask ourselves is why we love these people. It’s that simple. Know what you love about them.  Like the messy enthusiasm of scratch cookers, or the irrepresible spirit of the Londoner, or the ruthless determination of young smartphone shoppers in the global South to extract as much value and feature from every single Rupee, Won, Baht, or Rupiah they have to spend.

Love something about the consumer - picking the consumer’s side - will get us a long way.  As for communicating with our audiences, the most radical thing we can probably do is believe our audience is capable. That they can think. That they can feel subtlety. That they can navigate complexity. That they have accumulated vast experience. That they’ve watched more ads than we have. That they’ve watched more crap ads than we have. That they’re experts in genre and trope.

To believe and have faith that our audience is intelligent is not a compliment. Nor is it blind optimism. It’s a constraint. And a discipline. It forces us to bring our best. To not waste their time. To never assume attention is owed.

Yet for all that there is a low level background hum of disdain for the audience running through too much marketing and communications. Just look at how most advertising makes no concession to fact that it is interrupting something that people have chosen, or opted-in to watch. Or look at how coma-inducing generic pap is regarded as being better suited to the tastes and capabilities of the audience than anything more interesting. Or wait to be told that consumers in China (or Germany, or wherever) are “really literal”. Or listen to the stream of snark and condescension muttered towards those on the other side of the focus group mirror.

Perhaps it is a consequence of the vast cultural gap that exists between those working in the broad marketing community and general population. Perhaps as Helen Edwards has noted the very word ‘target’, encourages us to think of our potential customers as disempowered recipients of our outputs. Perhaps we overlook the awkward truth that people don’t ‘get’ or engage with what we put put into the world because (gasp) our ideas just aren’t as sophisticated and intelligent and we like to think they are. Perhaps they’re just not good enough to earn the time, interest and attention of the audience.

There may be many explanations. But there is no excuse, because assuming that the audience is a bunch of simpletons never leads to good things.  As the French philosopher, mystic, and political activist Simone Weil wrote, “The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his cell.”  Underestimating one’s audience is to commit onself to isolation - when the task is to reach across the gap and find a way into another person’s experience.

Assuming that the audience is stupid also lets us off the hook. It’s the perfect alibi for producing work that is forgettable at best, contemptible at worst. Good advertising doesn’t simplify because it thinks people are stupid. It simplifies because it knows people are busy. And then it earns their attention by offering something worth it. Simply put, to assume the audience are smart is to hold yourself to a higher standard. Show me a marketing organisation or agency populated by people who look down on their audience, and I’ll show you a marketing organisation or agency that is hardwired to produce landfill. 

So, love and faith. Honestly, it’s really not that complicated. I leave the final words to Howard Gossage:

“Until advertising really believes that there is someone out there… we will never develop the personal responsibility toward our audience, and ourselves, that even a ninth rate tap dancer has.”