WHY EVERY PR AND MARKETING PRO SHOULD SPEND MORE TIME ON THE BUS
I had a few days in North Queensland recently and took the opportunity to join a bus trip up from Cairns to the magnificent Daintree rainforest.
The Daintree is truly an environmental treasure, and I am eternally grateful that back in the 1980s, they stopped the bulldozers from demolishing the place.
But while the trip was great, what was almost as fascinating for me, as a keen observer of human behaviour, was my interaction with a bunch of Gen Ys and Zs sitting behind me.
It was all quite accidental. By the time the bus picked me up, pretty much all the seats were taken, and I grabbed a spot on the second last seat from the back – my younger fellow-travellers were sprawled across the bench seat behind.
The drive north from Cairns takes a few hours, so while I enjoyed peering out the window, almost from the start, I could not help but eavesdrop on the chatter going on behind me. I do have a couple of Gen Y kids, so I am not completely ignorant of how their outlook on life is so different from mine.
But my bus ride started to remind me of sitting behind the mirrored glass in a qualitative focus group at a research agency. The language, the topics of conversation, and just the general banter were so interesting and informative.
Later in the day, a couple of other passengers joined the trip, and the only spot left on the bus was in the back seat. So, I got to chat directly with my Gen-Y-Z friends. They were so friendly and welcoming of a grey-haired old “dad” like me and I learned even more. They were intelligent, motivated and full of laughs and quirky observations and the trip back to Cairns was a lot of fun.
It reminded me of an important lesson I learned about the origins of one of the most successful advertising campaigns I’ve had the pleasure of seeing developed. I was client-side in those days and had engaged an agency to do the job, so I can’t claim any credit for it winning a bunch of awards.
The campaign was a promotion for a university and looking back, I reckon I know one of the reasons it was so effective. I was sitting in my office one day when I phoned the creative director, Mike Edmonds. There was a bit of background noise, so I asked Mike, “Mate, where are you?” Mike went on to explain that he was sitting on a Transperth bus running from the city centre to the university campus. But there was method in his apparent madness – it gave him a chance to sit alongside students heading out to the university and get greater insight into their mindset.
The point was that Mike wasn’t just listening…he was taking notes. And I am willing to bet that the insights he gathered that day were critical to what turned into such a successful advertising campaign.
In danger of being tagged as a grumpy old guy, I must declare my belief that one of our industry’s greatest weaknesses is the tendency for marcoms professionals to stay glued to their computers all day… rather than get out and about and spend time with the people they are trying to influence.
I am not saying, by the way, that professionally developed and executed market research is a waste of time; far from it, I think it is crucial.
But it’s the principle that by listening, you learn and by learning, you obtain crucial insights that inform a successful strategy.
So, I reckon, if you’re planning a campaign or setting your marketing budget for next year, maybe pop in a few dollars to buy a bus ticket. It might make all the difference.
For more insights and ramblings on strategic business communications and marketing from JLCA Director John Le Cras, visit the JLCA Journal page.
