What debt does Sesame Street owe to an Italian porn movie? You'll find out.
Marketing flat? Customers and audiences bored? You need to polish your messages with Mad Men like Kermit, Big Bird and Elmo. We aren't talking fuzzy and fun; this is serious feet on the street.
In 1969 I raced to my college apartment to drink beer and watch Sesame Street. There wasn't anything like it on television. In one galaxy-shaking "Duh" someone noticed that kids liked commercials better than the programs. So the innovative people at Children's Television Workshop created a show that was all commercials. Chop the topics into 60-second chunks; add animation, Muppets and sprinkle liberally with jingles. Hey, it worked for Snap, Crackle and Pop.
Sesame Street changed how just about anyone under 45 learned, thought and reacted to marketing. The difference was it was intentional, designed and researched. The show had and still has far more in common with a marketing and advertising program than a television program. Okay boys and girls; grab your crayons because you're invited to sing along with Sesame Street Greatest Hits - marketing style.
Pinball Number Count
It all started with numbers. Listen to Big Bird. Never fall in love with your own research. Let research and analytics inform you but don't let them make your decisions. The Street's constant research helped guide thinking and overcome challenges still, in many cases; they did not follow the findings. Logic and experience are you’re your best guides. Focus groups are just snapshots. Remember every failed advertising and marketing program rated well with their focus groups.
Elmo's Song
Elmo isn't a details kind of - well whatever he is. Elmo loves reactions and so should you. Evaluate reactions and not approval or disapproval. How your audience responds is far more important than if they like or don't like your product, service, company or idea. Results come from action and not an intellectual exercise. Look at the responses.
Rubber Duckie
Ernie is in the tub and coming clean on how to structure your content. Don't avoid negatives. A negative can have more influence than a positive. Sesame Street doesn't sugarcoat life in the neighborhood. What you might lose is much more of a motivator to most people than what they have to gain. That's why Oscar the Grouch is always negative but always makes a point.
I Love Trash
What's that Oscar is saying? Repetition is important. Words, letters, ideas were presented over and over - day after day. Kids loved it. It bred familiarity, involvement and fostered a critical aspect of every form of early education - a false sense of security. Remember that 50-year old marketing principle that says a person needs five marketing impressions to be motivated to take the desired action? Well it's right.
It's Not Easy Being Green
I bet you thought Kermit was singing about being a frog? Nope he was singing about making money by playing to your audience. Make it easy and do two key things.
Capture Their Attention - The longer you hold your target audience's attention the greater the chance of attaining your desired results. Sesame Workshop tests every episode. If it doesn't hold a child's attention 80-90% of the time they don't air it. How do you capture attention? Kiddies you get focused.
Zero in on your audience and a single result. Sesame Street is aimed at preschoolers. That's it. Each show was "brought to you by" a letter of the alphabet but not the entire alphabet. During the episode the letter kept popping up and shuffling in and out of the other ideas and information. By the end of the show you knew that letter and could count to ten in Spanish. I bet you can still do it. Target an audience, a single, valuable idea and concept and focus on it.
C is for Cookie, That's Good Enough For Me
Listen to Cookie Monster. Who is saying something is often more important than what is being said. Sesame Street delivers friendly faces, memorable characters and a neighborhood. Put the message where it's logical and then put the person there too. If your message is about building supplies put your presenter in the store or on the building site. If you're selling fried chicken go where people enjoy your food. Boardrooms are so 1995.
Over, Under, Around & Through
Tell them when you do something new. While you focus and reinforce with repetition tease the "next new thing" while you have attention. My kids are excited to distraction by the promise of a new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. A night of premiers almost makes them wet their pants. Now look at how Lancôme teases the next free gift. You get the idea?
Sing, Sing A Song - About Your Brand
Never assume you know how your audience thinks and that it never changes. Treat idea extensions like brand extensions. What else can you do with an idea or concept? How can it be spread, modified and used again? This is what Microsoft calls the power of increasing returns. Work every idea until you wring the last possible result out of it. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street has been broadcast in over 120 countries with 20 independent international versions. This idea extension drives the global marketing that pays the bills and builds the brand.
Mah Na Mah Na
Don't over-think it. Mah Na Mah Na is my favorite Sesame Street song. The lyrics are just melodic babble but it is one of the most famous songs from the show. Mah Na Mah Na is the poster child of how global generations of adults have been taught to respond. It generates a reaction. It is pleasantly but obsessively repetitious. It captures your attention with the memorable characters and the situation and I can guarantee you that no focus group ever selected it. Believe it or not but the song was originally used in an Italian porn movie. But, when Bip Bipadotta sang it we all listened and watched. They didn't over-think the message. It didn't matter if it didn't make one lick of sense. Hey it was Sesame Street. 40 years and a billion dollars of revenue later … it's what we call marketing.
Mah Na Mah Na
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Special Guest Illustrator
From time to time we feature the work of a talented illustrator to spice up the view around here and help catch your attention. Jason Towers is web and print designer as well as a versatile illustrator. He is based out of Australia but Jason is as close as www.savvywebdesign.net. As he says the Internet has no boundaries.
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Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences.
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