What's your C-Type?

Are you a Ms. Independent or a Karma Queen? A Denim Dad or a Geek God?

New-York based firm Consumer Eyes researched consumers to find the "idiosyncratic characteristics that make consumers distinct". An evolution of sorts to the soccer mom and metrosexual profiles which lack dimension and can be too limiting. The result is nine distinct "C-Types".

What sets this classification apart and makes it fun, is that it aligns each personality with a celebrity counterpart. Parentocrats aspire to be Bree from Desperate Housewives, building their lives around what's best for their kids, without concern for what things cost. E-Litists, who identify with Al Gore, are green focused but enjoy choosing high end brands that make a statement about who they are. Every day references to products used and places they shop lend additional clarity, which is helpful for marketers who want to know more about how these people think, what they're into, and where they buy.

Still, I can't help wondering if this thinking is fundamentally flawed. I don't think people can be so easily categorized. I see aspects of myself in the Karma Queen, the Parentocrat and the Culture Crosser. But I don't identify strongly with any one group. We all have different roles in life. How we present ourselves at work, at home, to our kids, our parents, and our friends can differ, not to mention change as we get older. Then toss in cultural, ethnicity, religious, gender and political differences and you've got yourself a real mishmash of endless personalities and characteristics. But I gotta admit, aspiring to be Christy Turlington is a fun and appealing idea.

So, which one are you?

(image courtesy of AdAge)

Talk Like A Pirate Day. Every Day Should Be Like Today.

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day. Why? I don’t know. And I don’t even care enough to look it up. But I think it’s my new favorite holiday. Because, apparently, it’s the only day of the year you can just look someone square in the eye and yell, “Arrggg!”

Imagine you’re standing in line at some fast food joint. You step up to the counter and some unmotivated, disassociated, poor-excuse-for-an-employee gives you a look like you’re some idiot sent there to ruin her day. Then, in a barely coherent, venom-saturated tone, she asks, “Can I help you?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, you can help me. ARRGGG!”

Now you have two choices. You can walk out – granted, still hungry – feeling as if you’ve lifted a big weight off your shoulders. Or you can continue and calmly place your order. Either way, you feel better.

Now imagine you approached every problem that way. Impossible deadlines? Arrggg! Difficult clients? Arrggg! Tight budgets? Arrggg!

Try it. It’s refreshing. It’s a release of negative energy – that nasty, life-sucking quicksand that completely saps your creative mojo. Now you can look at the situation with a clear, fresh perspective. Is the deadline really that impossible? Are those clients actually being unreasonable? Is the budget that bad?

Arrggg!

Now you’re ready to make your decision.

Taking back the streets of Cleveland: a movement worth building

Joyce Prozynski, Mark Didonato, Art McKoy, Bob Shores and Sam McNulty want everyone in Cleveland to hear their message.

But they have no advertising budget. Heck, they don’t even have a website. And they certainly don’t have a PR agency pushing their agenda (ok, well maybe they have a copywriter trying to garner them some attention).

What they do have is a purpose: to take back the streets of Cleveland.

Across the city, Clevelanders are downright fed up with the sorry state of things. The record-setting murder rate. The armed robberies and drugs. The prostitution and graffiti-covered vacant houses. And a group of city officials (save a couple) that talk a lot of talk without taking action.

So ordinary people like 66 year-old Prozynski from Slavic Village have taken things into their own hands. Or should I say, onto their own two feet. One street, block and neighborhood at a time, Cleveland citizens are building a movement. They’re forming citizens brigades and neighborhood patrols. Sick and tired of the thugs, brutes and misanthropes that would otherwise drive them from the city they love, they’re banding together to reclaim their streets and fight for their neighborhoods. Read more about their story here.

Others have tried warm and fuzzy ad campaigns like “Believe in Cleveland” to promote Cleveland’s friendly business environment. But with the state of affairs so unfriendly in the city itself, perhaps we should fix some other things first. Problems that are just too big for any image-based campaign.

While I applaud efforts to create a more picturesque Cleveland, it seems that the folks organizing the neighborhood patrols are the only ones who understand that bullet-ridden pictures aren’t pretty.

So why am I conspicuously touting Prozynski and Company’s story? Because I’ve lived here for 26 years and I want to see change. For too long, this city has been going in the wrong direction. Anyone who actually lives in Cleveland (sorry, Westlake doesn’t count) knows that I’m not being pessimistic—this is the reality of the situation.

The matches for a large-scale, much-needed fiery movement have already been lit. And my hope is that the creative community cares enough about this city to do something. Enough to help the people at the grassroots level. Enough to offer their brains and creative resources as they’ve done in the past. And enough to do more than just read another blog.

Any takers?

Understanding Marketing Directors

Debby Kulber, an account director at Point to Point, noticed that while we spend a lot of time gathering insights on our client’s customers, we spend very little time understanding what it’s like to be the client. To get a deeper view, Debby interviewed 14 randomly selected corporate marketing leaders and asked the following nine questions:

1.    What’s the best part of your day?
2.    Describe the worst marketing meeting you ever sat through.
3.    If you were to compare yourself to an animal at work what would it be?
4.    If you were to give yourself a title that describes what you really do, what would your title be?
5.    If you could have one super power to help you with your job, what would it be?
6.    How many people do you have to answer to?
7.    Describe a dream that you’ve had about work.
8.    Rank in order of trust: ad executive, CEO, lawyer, marketing director, used car salesman
9.    What do you complain about when you go home at night?

Here’s a summary of what she found.

People who work in corporate marketing are stressed, over-extended and under appreciated. When asked about the best part of their day, most respondents said the beginning or end. It seems that days often start with great promise, but are often maligned by a constant flow of interruptions and misdirections,  and are further stressed by an acute shortage of time.

Interacting with other executives who don’t understand the function and objective of marketing adds additional frustration. We heard several examples of meetings where the role of marketing is grossly misunderstood. One marketing director commented, “My client is requesting something that they have no idea what the strategy is or what they are to accomplish.” And of course ill-prepared agencies can make a bad day worse.

Animal comparisons filled offices with squirrels, beavers, bunnies and hummingbirds—all members of the busy kingdom. Our favorite quote personifies a dog, “Ready for fun, loyal, good in a group but content to work alone. There for others, sensitive to their needs, able to smell trouble.”

Superpower requests also tell a story of not having nearly enough time or resources. Cloning, stretching power, time machines and mind reading would all make the day move along a little more smoothly. Equipped with these new powers our research group could more easily support the “scads, hundreds and dozens” of people who each super hero reports to.

Several of those interviewed find the job doesn’t end with sleep. “I dream about doing my job, so I always wake up tired and never get a break.”

Debby’s research verifies what many in marketing already know: the demands placed on most marketing departments are inversely proportional to the resources they have. And this will probably continue to worsen with media fragmentation, budget cuts and a basic lack of organizational knowledge of what marketing should and should not do.

So why would anyone want to be in corporate marketing or advertising? My guess is that most people enter and stay in marketing because the actually believe they can make something better and help the organizations they work for succeed.

So being a corporate marketing leader may resemble my golf game. When I leave the course I forget the 109 bad shots that I endured and focus on that one great shot that I hit so sweetly. That one shot that gives me hope to return on a better day when ball and club work in harmony.

If you would like to see the full research please click here. We’d like to hear your comments and what type of marketing animal you are.

I’d like to wish Debby Kulber a speedy return to good health. We all miss her and find that her absence leaves a giant void in our office. Get well Debby, we need you back.