What do people want?

All day yesterday the Motrin video hiccup was a hot topic on one of the list serves that I am on. Below was one of the more interesting questions. My response follows after it.

The question for us marketers is – how do we know who is the passionate few, and what will trigger them? Can this phenomenon be replicated at will? And if so, how? The holy grail is to know them, “own them” (of course they can’t be owned b/c the very definition of who they are precludes this, but that is the desire), and target messages to them that they will then passionately forward on to others. How does one lasso viral? If anyone knows the answers to these questions, please share with all of us. We’ll be rich.

Limor Schafman - KeystoneTech Group

Limor,

I think you definitely have it right. If there was an exact answer to your questions we'd all be rich. But I'll propose this. . .

There definitely is no silver bullet answer, but the next best thing (as we've discovered in working with our clients) is - having the understanding of what it is that people want. You can create all the Facebook links, flikr photos, and campaign ads you want but if you don't know what it is that drives and stirs people. . .(you'll never go viral - big or small).

So the next question is: What do people want? People want to be producers. What do I mean by that? People want to have a say (or the believeable illusion of it) in what affects their life.

3 examples:

1. Apple - Apple sells the iPod, iPhone and all that jazz but what people miss is that Apple creates software that allows you to produce - iWorks, iMovie, Garage Band, Final Cut Pro (and the list goes on). So Apple says "buy us and we'll let you take control of your world". With Apple you are now able to produce your own movies, records, videos, and on and on. . . (definitely one of the reasons they have legions of fans). Right now Apple after only 7 years in retail is the most successful retail store in the country. The second is Tiffany.

2. Threadless T- Shirt Company - Probably the most innovative t-shirt company in the U.S. (dare I say the world) - They crowdsource (wikipedia style approach) their t-shirt lines. Their customers are the ones who actually create the t-shirts that they eventually mass produce (they're now a $20 million dollar company). Again their customers are the producers of their products.

3. Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign - And for those who aren't profit driven. . . (arguably) one of the most mind boggling, innovative, and transformative presidential campaigns ever to be ran on U.S. soil. What was a truely poweful component of his campaign that made ridiculously successful?  His campaign allowed people to be producers. They produced youtube vidoes. They produced their own local campaigns. They produced their own tactics on how to get out the vote. People felt like they were creators and producers. In innumerable grassroots communities around the country everyday people were in charge. And that is what producers are . . . in charge.

Now whether you are a non-profit, for profit or whatever else - know how to create producers (and something they want to be producers for) and you have something powerful in the making.