A twenty minute history of hair styles by two former sorority girls. That's how my flight started today.
No, I wasn't part of the conversation, but I just left my IPod off while the engines revved up, and we took off, just because I was so amused by how ridiculous the conversation was.
Ok, enough of that, I thought, and I went on to a little Across the Sound catch-up. Forty-five minutes later, and the girls had People magazine out and were giggling like crazy. So, naturally I removed the ear buds to have another peak into this meeting of the minds. Ahh, of course, a Paris Hilton discussion. Then Madonna, then Anna Nicole Smith (who apparently is VERY smart...Just look how much money she has, How could she not be?...duh!), and, of course, the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, who has lost favor because of her leftist know-it-all attitude. GDubya would be very proud.
And, back to the IPod.
But, I couldn't help it. I needed to hear more. And I can't tell you how pleased I was with the next batch of insights into, you guessed it, celerity hair!
So, at this point, from a marketers' perspective, my recommendation would be to team up with Star magazine and Sex in the City, throw an American flag on the lapel, and you'll have won them over, no matter what product you happen to be selling.
I'm such an asshole.
How the hell do I know anything about these women? Maybe they're both doctors, lawyers or scientists who just go for weekend girlie trips where they don't allow themselves to talk about anything but topics that use as little brain power as possible?
The point is, we can't rely on snapshots, fragments of the consumer's lives, and expect to paint a clear picture of the whole. Consumers take on different roles depending on what situations they are in, who they're talking to, how the feel, what clothes they're wearing, what they did the night before, whatever. We all wear different hats, and too often traditional advertising assumes the same hat, for the same person, at anytime.
And the last time I lost the ear buds, the discussion had turned to major agricultural crops in the State of Texas in the 1800's. Who the fuck could have seen that coming? Not me, that's for sure.
Along the same lines, Eric Kintz has a great post about Dissociative Identity Marketing, although, he's referring more to digital personas. It's a good read, and probably makes a little more sense than my ramblings.
