Focus Groups

Yesterday I took part in a focus group regarding some ideas for an improved product. It amazes me that with all the money, all the time, and all the research that’s put into developing ideas and following up with advertising that the ads are so incredibly poor. And the ideas sound all the same as other ideas I’ve heard before.

There are popular catch words these days – green – everything’s green... “Helping to build a better world...” “Caring about the world...” “Keeping the world green,” etc. etc. etc. Everybody wants to be green these days. Everybody wants to be perceived as caring about the environment.

Or products are “Natural” – “Whole Wheat” – maybe even “Whole Grain.” Or it’s healthy... “Probiotic” or filled with “Antioxidents” or “lowers cholesterol.” And there’s always some sort of study to back it up. They’ll even make up names for the junk they are trying to highlight – Bifidus Regularis – What the heck is THAT – regularis? (And, no, the focus group wasn’t about yogurt – I’m sworn to secrecy on the subject.)

Can’t something healthy and (ugh) green also be fun and interesting???? Can’t we find something different in the ads. They’re either formulaic or filled with these catch words. And the new, improved ideas are not new or even improved – they’re all just new takes on the same old stuff.

“How do you feel about the product now that you know they care about the world? Are you much more interested in purchasing? Somewhat more interested in purchasing? Neither more nor less interested in purchasing? Somewhat less interested in purchasing? Or much less interested in purchasing? Press the corresponding number on your handset.” First off, I don’t believe they really care about the world – ad campaigns, greedy CEOs and a long life have made me very skeptical of advertising claims. Secondly, even if they DO care about the world, that doesn’t make for an exciting ad (or even an ad that would make me buy the product).

These days ads have to be snappy right off the bat in order to keep people from fast forwarding the commercial. They have to give the important information up front too or say something that makes you want to hang around to hear the info. Yes, the info is what sells the product - that’s what lets us know why we should buy it instead of go without or take another brand, but you gotta get people to HEAR it first. If we’re just hearing the same old stuff, we’ll tune it out.

There ARE products with interesting stuff to explain - things that MAY be a little different. In our short-attention-span-world, we need it explained quickly, excitingly and clearly. These expensive focus groups don’t seem to be helping the advertising world understand that.

Even the focus group was boring. We just answered questions and pressed our little keypads in a small stuffy classroom filled with over sixty people. I earned my focus group $$!!!