When I was a kid, I remember seeing schoolteachers out and about (i.e., store, restaurant) and just couldn’t believe it.  What?  They let them out of the school?  Shouldn’t they be in the classroom – clapping erasers, reading the dictionary or putting the border on the bulletin board?  It was hard to imagine them as everyday folks doing everyday things.  I find I do that with physicians.  Shouldn’t mine be at the office – reading scans, looking through a microscope or discovering cures?  Nope.  Turns out they get to lead normal lives too.  And boy do they.  A study from Manhattan Research found 64% of physicians own smartphones and that this number is expected to rise to 81% by 2012.  And can you find them updating their status on Facebook?  Yes, 88% of them have visited the site.  But, odds are you won’t find them tweeting – with about 16% of them using Twitter, which is a bit less likely than the U.S. adult population at large. 

With the economy as it is today, we must be more and more conscious of our client’s dollars. This means less mass marketing, more targeted marketing.  But to do it right, you have to be smart and truly understand your audience.

Colt 45 recently launched an advertising campaign in Detroit with a billboard that features the actor, Billy Dee, with the slogan “Works every time.”  And I can tell you, living in Ferndale, I don’t see the billboards north of 9 mile.  But why does that have Detroit city leaders up in arms? 

I can tell you it’s not because the campaign is running in Detroit, but because the message isn’t relevant to the audience. 

Who were they targeting?  The old-school generation that would remember the old ads he did in the 80’s and that are already loyal to the malt beverage?  Probably not.  My guess is they wanted the younger, urban, city dwellers.  And if that’s the case – the creative and the message don’t connect with them.  First off, that generation probably doesn’t even know what malt liquor is or who Billy Dee is.  Let alone do they remember the old commercials that featured him. 

I would be interested to know what the residents of Detroit think about the campaign.  What do you think?  Did Colt 45 go to far? 

On July 1of 1963, the U.S. Postal Service implemented the Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) code as a technique to expedite mail delivery across the nation.  The coding system was invented by Robert Moon, who submitted the idea back in 1944 while working as a postal inspector.  The Postal System will only give him credit for the first three digits - which relates to a general region of the country.  The last two digits that in essence carve out smaller geographies was a shared endeavor and credit goes to a “committee” of smarties. 

But not only did Mr. Moon contribute to the efficiency of the postal system, he also gave a helping hand to marketers.  Zip codes are often used as a way to identify particular market segments and advertise to them accordingly.  Which segment are you?  You can find out the top segments in your zip code by going to the following link and going to the “Zip Code Look-up” Tab:

Click Here:

Have you ever used the Internet to search for medical information?  Maybe even self-diagnosed yourself with a an ill-fated disease based on one of your symptoms (c’mon, fess up)?  If you have been online searching for health-related data, welcome to the majority of the population.  Sixty-one percent of Americans use the Internet to access health information - up from 25% back in 2000 (source: PewInternet).  But, who is most likely to be searching on the Internet for medical information?  According to PRIZM, a leading market segmentation tool, the PRIZM cluster most likely to be found listening to a health-related podcast, going to a medical website, and/or reading a blog or physician reviews is the nation’s most elite segment – The Upper Crust.  A little bit about Upper Crust:  their age range is between 45-64 and median HH income is about $114,000.  They read the Wall Street Journal, Economist, and Forbes.  They listen to NPR and ESPN radio.  They watch tennis, golf, and horse racing.  Think of Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady – but American and with Internet access.  And if he had the latter, perhaps he’d spend more time focusing on his health and less time trying to change Ms. Doolittle.  I happen to find her Cockney twang endearing.