How courageous are you in developing products and services for your intended audience? Are you willing to deliver something that would be incredibly appreciated by your own niche – even if others found it a laughable idea?
This year millions of viewers tuned in to Animal Planet to watch Puppy Bowl III and the Kitty Half Time Show. It’s a Superbowl alternative that ran 3 (!) hours in back-to-back loops for most of the day on Sunday. It’s basically a bunch of shelter puppies rassling with each other on a cute, miniature football field covered in toys. Fun, creative details, like a water bowl with a camera in the bottom (“puppy bowl cam”), a few dogs “tailgating” outside the stadium (in the “barking lot”), instant replays of “bone-crushing hits” (no, they weren’t; and all action was carefully supervised by the Humane Society), and penalty flags thrown by a ref in costume (for poops on the field) made this even more enjoyable.
Personally, I can’t think of anything more stress-reducing than three straight hours of puppies falling all over each other. I even visualize puppies during meditation sometimes. Of course, I’ve always thought I was a bit of a freak for doing this. I would never have imagined there were SO MANY others like me who not only watch the Puppy Bowl but might possibly even buy the DVD. (Kind of a variation on the aquarium or fireplace video loops you put on the TV for atmosphere.)
On the one hand, Americans love their pets, with 63% of households having at least one pet and total spending in this industry exceeding $38 billion. So, it seems natural that puppy and kitten oriented programming would have some appeal. But THREE HOURS of plotless cuteness? I can’t help but imagine the pitch at Animal Planet:
Brave Genius: You know, there’s a lot of people out there who couldn’t give a crap about the Superbowl. They could use an alternative program to watch on Sunday. Something with less testosterone and more … fur.
Skeptic: Dude. I know you didn’t just propose –
Brave: Puppies! Yep. With kittens at half-time.
Result? Wikipedia lists “Puppy Bowl” as being the most-watched show on cable during the Superbowl time slot. No colts or bears for those folks.
OK, so what can you offer that your clients would embrace and appreciate, and that those who were NOT your target audience would regard with a range of boredom to outright disdain? It’s a litmus test of a kind. Think of the Love-It-or-Hate-It (or Ridicule-It) brands you know.
If you need to relax to get into a creative mode, take 2 minutes and 1 second to watch this. If you need more sweeties in your home life, consider adopting a homeless pet.
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Samantha,
I really liked this post. Innovative, risky, unconventional yet attracts people. This all marketing is about. Attracting people and making profits.