Meet Ellie, a fabulous baby I know. She's not yet one and already walks and says a few words. She knows that people hold devices to their ear and appear to talk to them. What's more, they look at them and touch them and interact with them. In fact, she does it too; by touching her Dad's iPhone, she can follow along with Old MAcDonald and interact with the song.
In a few years, Ellie will be interacting with content aimed to sell her something. Or, rather, sell her parents something. When she gets excited about a product or service, she'll let her parents know (!) and chances are, on certain occasions she'll get what she asks for.
She is already part of a target market. Do you have a product or service Ellie should know about? Let's think beyond toys and clothing and food. If you sell financial services, for example, should you be designing a program around financial literacy that's fun for, say, seven year olds to interact with... so that when Ellie and her friends are seven they will begin to associate currency and savings and purchases with your company in a trusting way? There is almost no product or service I can think of that doesn't present a possibility for getting consumers--even though they are too young to buy--to begin to associate a brand with aspiration and acquisition. And to do it in a way that is informative, fun and valuable.
Sound scary? Too much like Big Brother? I'd argue that done well, such programming would be a public service. It would be a good thing for every young American to know the value--and dangers--of money and credit and acquisition of goods Done wrongly, it would be annoying, disruptive, exploitative. So if you're in business--any business--think about how Baby Talk now can put your product or service on training wheels for the next generation of consumers and how you could do that in a way that contributes to the public good.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Check this out: http://www.mobileart.jp/phonebook.html
Posted by: Bradford Eagle | March 11, 2010 at 07:17 PM