No One Knows Your Product Like Your Users

I have a six year old daughter and right now she’s into Zoey 101 and Disney Channel etc and it means I can’t help but watch sometimes … excuse over now so I’ll get on with it!

Today on Zoey 101 as their assignment, the class are asked to come up with a TV commercial for a new scooter called the “Jet X” and I learnt some important marketing lessons whilst watching that I wanted to share with you …

One of the developers from the Jet X company rides in on this super cool scooter and asks the class ”who want’s this scooter?”  And of course, they all put their hand up.

He then tells them that there are three things needed to sell a product:

1. great hair - a joke obviously
2. a great product - which he was very confident in and,
3. great advertising

But one of Zoey’s classmates is confused … she asks “don’t they have special people who get paid to do this kinda stuff, like make these kinds of commercials”

He said “that’s the point …”

“They Think They Know Teeneagers And They Don’t, But YOU Know Teenagers”

So now these teens are pumped because they want one of these which, they can win if their team comes up with the best TV Commercial and, the ad will be aired on TV.

So here’s what happened next …

The girls team up as do the boys but Logan, one of the classmates is loaned all the props for a movie set and even gets an actor for his commercial because his dad is a TV producer and he all but leaves his team-mates out because they know nothing about TV right?

As for the girls, they’re struggling.  They find out about Logan and his fancy equipement and complains to their teacher who gives them an important tip ..

“It’s Not About The Fancy Equipement or What You Put On The Screen, It’s About The Content”

Logan overhears this conversation which is when he introduces the oh so handsome Jeff Garrett, a celebrity spokesperson who will appear in their TV commercial and this of course make the girls even more upset and feeling they have even less chance now of ever owning a lovely pink Jet X.

I’m going to skip chunks of the program now and take you right to show time.

It’s the night before the viewing of the teams DVD movies and the boys have their professional cut movie whilst the girsl have nothing but some disasterous clips from about 20 different shoots and some uncut footage where the camera girl didn’t know how to turn it off.

Zoey decides she’s going to go through the entire video and cut and paste but by 7:00am in the morning, they still have nothing.

Everyone except Zoey is now in class watching the boys movie complete with great graphics, props - including the bikini girl since of course an ad for a motorized machine would be no good without the shapely blond right?

At the end everyone claps and the producer tells them well done.  But now the girls look embarrassed and Zoey hasn’t turned up so they start making excuses.  They’re about to say they have nothing when Zoey runs in with her DVD and puts it into the player.

She has put together a movie of the girls having conversations about what the Jet X means - freedom, go wherever you want whenever  you want, you look cool and will get noticed and it’s about being in control.

All of these clips are actually from the footage “camera girl” (not sure of her name) shot when she didn’t know how to turn off the camera but Zoey also included the clip that was scripted … the shoot of Zoey meeting her friend riding her new pink Jet X:

“Wow, is that a Motorcycle” (friend)
“No” (Zoey)
“Is it a scooter” (friend)
“No it’s a Jet X” (Zoey)

The screen goes black and in red text it says “did you get that?” Meaning, it’s not a motorcycle or a scooter, it’s a Jet X.

Now there’s silence from everyone except the guy from Jet X who can’t clap loud enough.  He says “oh my gosh, this is it!  This is exactly what we need,” but shocked Logan exclaims “you liked that?” To which the Jet X developer answered …

“Yours was entertaining, yes … for Hollywood.”

The girls on the other hand spoke to their audience - high school teens which is exactly what the makers of the Jet X were after and why they didn’t pay thousands to a company to create the add for them.

In wanting the best equipment, props and of course the Celebrity who would kiss the half naked girl, Logan lost the plot.  He forgot his audience and went for the “look good, sex appeal.”

Zoey and her team-mates on the other hand talked about what it would mean to them to own a Jet X - the freedom, looking cool and getting noticed etc.  And from whose point of view were they speaking?  Other High School teens like themselves … the target audience for the Jet X.

Both teams were given a Jet X for the purposes of the ad and had Logan and his team spoken to a dozen of his peers, he would have known that it was less about getting the half dressed chick and more about freedom and image that would sell the Jet X High School teens.

They may have overheard the teachers comment regarding it not being about the fancy equipment and what you put on the screen that matters, it’s the content, but in the end, Logan and his team did exactly the opposite and focused on look good rather than content.

What’s my point …

Before you go spend a penny on a product launch or even write the copy for your next product, give away some copies and ask for feedback.

Better yet, don’t even create the product until you survey your prospect users.

A blog post with a difference today but I hope you get the idea.

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