You can’t label me
I spend most of my free time working on and around computers. I enjoy relieving a little stress by kicking, punching and throwing my boyfriend around in Dead or Alive 4 on the xBox360. I consume a lot of coffee and sushi. I also drink martinis (dirty with an extra olive please). I try to go to the gym at least three times a week, and I park my grey Ford Taurus in the far lot so I have to walk a little further to get to the office. I watch South Park, My Name is Earl and the Gilmore Girls (all on Tivo so I can SKIP the commercials). I get my news from NPR, CNN and The Lawrence Journal-World. I cruise blogs, Google news, and my friend’s personal web sites. I watch some of the funnier and/or more ironic commercials online after my friends send a link to me via email. I just saw Ice Age II: The Meltdown at the local theater, and next weekend I plan to meet some friends at a little bar downtown. I use email, instant messenger and text messaging to communicate with my friends. I am over thirty, recently divorced and don’t have any children; but I have a new puppy. I’m a full-time employee with benefits and a part-time graduate student. Is there a niche publication for me?
I used to love advertising and marketing. In fact, I wanted to be in the business. But over time, I have come to almost despise the games advertisers play. Over time, I have begun to ignore many of the messages they so carefully craft in order to get me to buy the latest thingymajig.
I am a human being, not a demographic sector. I am not a seat, an eyeball, an end user or a consumer (The Cluetrain Manifesto, 2000).
What shocks and disturbs me, today, is that now newspapers, magazines and television stations are falling pray to the marketer’s cry to focus on demographics. We’ve had several guests come to our management class this semester who talked about targeting content to niche markets. I have to agree, from a theoretical standpoint, it makes sense. But as a potential reader who is choosing to ignore the status quo, it doesn’t make any sense at all. I don’t think you can put a label on me or my interests.
Lori Buselt from The Wichita Eagle came to our class and talked about the new WichiTalk magazine the Eagle launched this year. According to Buselt, the magazine is targeted to working women, specifically working mothers. Of course, the advertising department loves this kind of niche publication because they can sell advertisers a target demographic. But what if I, demographically speaking, fit the target market, but have no interest in reading about “Kids activities” or “10 great ways to survive the early years of motherhood in style.”
Wait. I do have to give some props to WichitTalk. When I visited the Kansas.com web site there were a few articles that peeked my interest, specifically, “Our guide to the martini.” (Do I really need a guide?)
When are these newspaper people going to wake up and smell the cold hard facts? More than likely, they aren’t going to be able to lure any of the 18 and younger crowd to read, let alone buy, a print newspaper, no matter how creatively they target this niche market. Print is dead. Oh, I’m sorry, according to Jeff Jarvis, a former print editor, now a consultant and blogger at BuzzMachine.com, “Print is not dead. Print is where words go to die,” (Fast Company, Dec. 2005).
One current theme I’ve heard from journalism educators, researchers, and even media professionals themselves is that today’s young audience wants (and I say expects) to get the content they want, when they want it, how they want it. Jarvis reiterated this theme, claiming that the media makes the mistake of defining themselves by the pipes that feed them, even though the public does not, (Fast Company, http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/101/open-debate-extra.html). “Conversation is the kingdom, trust is king,” Jarvis said. There is value in the community that gathers around the content the media produces (Fast Company, http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/101/open-debate-extra.html).
I belong to many different communities and I have many different interests. To me, and perhaps others in my generation, to define myself as just one “thing” would be the ultimate life killer. It would prevent me from living, exploring and growing. Jarvis’ advice to the media is to “Rethink their business model, their values and their relationships to the marketplace”
Buzzmachine.com). The authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto would most definitely agree that the way to succeed in the world today is to be open-minded and unafraid of the marketplace and the conversations that are taking place between people and corporations everyday.
