Don’t misquote me.  Clients know a lot about their products and their customers but clients are humans and humans have perceptions that sometimes are wrong and this can be a huge problem.  Remember—in the brand development process perception is reality.   The following is a story of how I believed a client when they told me their perception.  What we perceive we believe.

I met two schoolteachers who made their own ceramic buttons.  Their buttons were themed.  They had a sailing collection that included boats, sailor boys, sailor girls, and flags.  The art collection consisted of short paintbrushes, paint pallets, paint tubes, and fat pencils.  There was a flower collection, a bird collection, a flag collection, and on and on.  They had a great imagination and were able to create a tremendous variety of categories of buttons and they had thousands of buttons.  They were so enthusiastic about their buttons that it was hard not to be swept away by it.  And I was.

How did they get started and why?  They were elementary schoolteachers and they were always looking for things that would interest their children.   They told me and I believed…“that elementary students and all elementary teachers are tactile.’   Touch is a way young children learn and the children loved their buttons.    They had knowledge and experience…so why shouldn’t I believe.

The teachers started their business because they were making more buttons than they could use.  They did it all.  They designed, sculpted, and fired their buttons in their own kiln.  The buttons were unique, colorful, and attractive.  When their customers wore their buttons they received great comments on how attractive, cute, and “where could I get some of those buttons?”  They had done well selling to other teachers by word of mouth (this was before the Internet).

They wanted to expand their operation and start a clothing line through a direct mail catalog.  The concept was good because it was a vertical market and we could easily purchase a mail list of elementary school teachers—the target audience they had done so well selling.

These teachers were very hands-on and wanted to be part of the process of producing the catalog so they were involved in selecting the models.   They had strong perceptions of who elementary school teachers were.  They felt that the teachers needed to be large women because most of the teachers they had sold to were women in their 40s and 50s and they had put on some weight and they were large.  They had the knowledge and experience and they were convincing.  The result was they taught me a great lesson.

The problem was their perception was not the perception of the target audience.  The elementary school teachers in the target audience did not see themselves as big, stout, or large.  They saw themselves the way the size they were when they graduated from college—medium and petite.

The result was a complete failure.

The only consolation I had was I found myself in some good company.  I later read a study about some very smart people at Carling Black Label beer who did the same thing.  Their research showed that their best consumer was: overweight, beer belly, and had a small refrigerator to keep his beer by his recliner in front of his TV which he watched 4.6 hours a day.  That is what they convinced their agency to show in their TV spots. This was 1968 and that was the high watermark for Carling Black Label Beer.  Miller took the same demographic information and their agency created a view the consumer had of himself as a ‘working man’.  He was in his twenties, strong, in great shape, small waist, worked for the electric company climbing towers and handling enough electricity to light up the county.  And when he walked into the bar all of the young women looked his way.  Millers’ sales shot up.  Miller understood their customer’s perception of who they see themselves as.

Perceptions are powerful. What we perceive to be true is true.   If you ever doubt it think about placebos.  Placebos are the best medicine there is.  Doesn’t cost much.  The patient does all of the healing and if there are any side effects they are imaginary.

Learn more about perceptions and get our Free eBook, “How we increase sales from $14 to $28 million in four years.”

About Ken Gasque

Ken Gasque is a brand image-maker, marketing planner and designer. Ken works with small companies and Fortune 500 companies who recognize the need to differentiate their products and services to stand out in a cluttered market. Ken is a highly visual, outside-the-box-thinker on advertising, branding and marketing—his work reflects his belief that “We buy with our eyes.”  Ken writes and lectures on brands, design, images and brand development. www.Gasque.com