Brands and Sesame Street

It struck me the other day that the best example of marketing "engagement" comes not from the advertising world, but from something people have been doing since the beginning of time....teaching their kids. Wondering what we can apply to brands if we look closer at this situation.

Ok, here's my semi-crappy analogy. Parents want their kids to take a desired action in learning stuff like their ABCs, how to poop in something other than their pants, etc. However, most of the time kids don't want any part of this. There are probably a variety of reasons why (parents feel free to chime in) but for the purposes of this lets say it's because A.) There are much more interesting things for kids to do like mashing peas between their toes and B.) They don't really listen to their parents that much unless they want something from them. Parents overcome this and get their kids to "buy" the knowledge by making learning fun and rewarding. In essence by giving the kids something they want (fun), parents get what they want (learning). Just look at what's happening in the clip of Mr. Noodle from Sesame Street.......

Who, coincidentally enough, is my uncle in real life.....but I digress.

In today's world, most people are like kids who have many more interesting things to do than listen and subsequently tune out brands (or anyone who is trying to get them to do something for that matter). And brands are like parents trying to find ways to get people to pay attention and do the things they want. The trouble here is that most brands don't try to make the interactions rewarding in any way. Either they shout louder and more often in a boring voice that people didn't find interesting in the first place (more ads in more places saying the same thing, aka nagging) or they try to be more interesting in a way that provides little, if any, value to the audience (ever seen those large inflatable gorillas on the roofs of car dealerships?)

I suppose the short slide after this long run is that brands (or anyone trying to build a relationship or get someone else to do something) should stop thinking purely like businessmen focusing squarely on what message to deliver or what stunt they think will attract fleeting attention and start thinking like parents by focusing on how you will make your interactions rewarding by giving people what they want. It shouldn't be that hard.....there are plenty of parents out there.