Donkeys can’t sleep in bathtubs and other useful tips

We can all respect the dead, after all...

After my last post about the strange terms you all seem to love googling, I thought I’d give you an update.

Some more recent classics include the sarcastic (“I don’t mean any disrespect, but….I hope you are buried alive”) the illogical (“Bananas are…proof that God exists”) the comical (“Does your virginity…grow back?”) and the just plain weird (“Donkeys can’t…sleep in bathtubs”).

Wander on over to Autocomplete me to read some more!

The lighter side of politics

I followed the whole general election debacle with much interest, particularly around the debates. I also took a keen interest in the PR stunts that some agencies did off the back of the election, such as the great ‘designer’ kitchens from Ikea, where each one was made to represent one of the potential 3 leaders.

Another big talking point amongst more of the fashion and beauty focused people was the impeccable smoothness of DCam’s shiny and super smooth forehead. Now, everytime I looked at him, I couldn’t help but wonder where I’d seen that face before. And no, not in politics, but just someone else who had an uncanny likeness to him. And then it came to me. Don’t get me wrong, I actually don’t mind our new prime minister…but this looky-likey..well, judge for yourself!

From L-R: Jake Tucker, Family Guy; David Cameron, our new Prime Minister

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

I just read Marketing Week’s feature on the 100 year old consumer.  Apparently half of all babies born since the year 2000 in rich nations will live to be 100 years old.  Yet few brands are adapting their marketing plans to target this rise in older consumers – just watch a few ads on TV and you’ll see brands would rather target teens, young professionals and families.  The only older faces I can recall seeing on recent ads are Twiggy, Joanna Lumley and Andy McDowell (ouch – don’t think she sees herself as being particularly old though!). 

With stats showing that people aged over 65 spent £97bn in the UK in 2008, M&S, Muller and L’Oreal are obviously doing something right.  Clearly this is not a group that businesses can afford to ignore.  But perhaps it is too one-dimensional to treat those over 65 as just that – an age group.  Do older people really need to fit into their own niche audience? Or can they not be marketed to depending on their common interests? One reader’s comment from the Marketing Week article references her 83 year old mother as having just started an advanced IT course.  Advanced. So straight away that makes her more adept with computers than my 35 year old sister. Yet this ‘elderly lady’ is virtually excluded from any relevant marketing from the IT savvy crowd.

So should brands now start splitting their marketing spends across even more age groups?  Surely if brands develop too many messages for too many audiences their overall message will in some way be diluted? The key has to be prioritising these audiences and no longer confining people to a set age bracket. Before you jump on the bandwagon, work out which groups will have the most affiliation and engagement with your brand – look at their lifestyle, spending habits, location and other interests.  These are the consumers you want to focus on, the ones you want to engage with and ideally turn into advocates – and ultimately the ones that will drive sales.