Talking to your target audience, one person at a time.

We’ve always felt that advertising should feel like a conversation between a brand and a person. The best examples of persuasive communications are usually designed to connect to a single individual, even in political speeches written for the masses (“Ask not what your country can do for you...”).

Often in the attempt to talk to a target audience, advertisers can succumb to thinking of their consumers as a literal mass of people instead of a collection of individuals. The advertising messages get crafted for a “they.” The problem with this approach is that, with some exceptions, there really is no “they” reading your ad, visiting your site, listening to your spot or watching your video. There is only a person (or a succession of many individuals) who will come across your messages.

As part of the strategic process we do with our clients, we ask them to think of a certain key individual (usually their best customer) when thinking of their offering. The idea is to guide the thought process to this insight: “My brand would succeed even more if I just had more customers like this key person.”

So what would that one key person want to hear from your brand in order to compel him or her to take action? That’s the start of your conversation with each one of your future customers.