I asked: Do you have any allergen-free food?
The waitress answered with utter sincerity: Do you mean, like, without any onions?
I was momentarily stunned by the reply. How amazing it is that humans, being as similar as we inherently are, could have such an immensely different view of the world. It’s kind of cool in a way, as if our knowledge, experiences and awareness themselves makes us different subspecies of human.
That’s why mass marketing both works and fails. Companies who try to market for mass appeal (with whatever they’re pushing) prove that it doesn’t work, while smarter companies hone in on unique characteristics to popularize on a mass scale, proving that it does work. Social media and companies like Fab rely on this phenomenon.
Kelly Hobkirk - teaching marketers how to harness strategy, goals, reality, and purpose to connect and do better work.
Kelly Hobkirk has been helping companies succeed in creative ways for nearly 25 years. His work has been featured in Time Magazine, and books by Rockport and Rotovision. Get exclusive articles when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.