Podcast Snippet – Episode 98 of Startup Confidential
The following is an excerpt from Part II of my recent interview w/Emmanual Probst of Ipsos. We share a passion for understanding strategy from the perspective of real behavior, not the marketer’s fantasy of what their brand could be. Enjoy!
Emmanuel Probst:
The problem with most American marketers until now, there wasn’t enough diversity of thinking. And my point is in that boardroom, not even in that boardroom, in that brainstorming session …
Dr. James Richardson:
Right.
Emmanuel Probst:
… when we build messaging and communication and value proposition for the brand, we don’t need, we certainly don’t want just a bunch of 15-plus years, so-called senior executives. We need a diversity of talents. We need people 22 years old who graduated three months ago and spend their days on social media. We need people from diverse ethnic, cultural and educational background. We need people with diverse political orientations, and we need people with diverse genders and gender orientations. And it is this diversity and this contribution from those diverse people who the value proposition that is going to help us build brands and products that succeed in the long run.
Dr. James Richardson:
At the very least, that diversity allows you to contemplate alternative audiences that haven’t been thought about in the building.
Emmanuel Probst:
100%.
Dr. James Richardson:
…I think sometimes the people who own the business and essentially seeded it, saw an opportunity. It could even be through their own teenage kids and they jumped on it and they have this business, but they’re not actually the consumer. The owners are not the consumer. They have the same problem you’re talking about.
Emmanuel Probst:
Well, about listening to your kids, and you’re right, your kids are biased because they live in a marketing-type of household. And I see my kids, so little anecdote, James, so my kids are 16 and 14, and they will pick up a brand and word for word, they will say, “Yeah, that’s a brand that feels innovative and helpful.”
Or, “Yeah, this is a brand for people like me,” but nobody speaks like this.
Dr. James Richardson:
I know.
Emmanuel Probst:
When normal people go to the store, they don’t look at a toothpaste and think, “Yeah, that toothpaste is going to be innovative and helpful for me and my family.” And in fact, and I can say this now because it was 15 years ago…part of the reason why MTV eventually went downhill as I remember, and that’s, yeah, about 16 years ago. MTV did some audience research among the kids of people working at MTV. Well, number one, those kids are very exposed to MTV, MTV type of content, and certainly, they are biased to the brand. And number two, as a mid-level research executive at MTV, how are you going to argue with the feedback that you received from the 12 years old daughter or son of your CMO. Right?
The full episode is now live and available on my podcast page.