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BG and I took the train together yesterday morning and I had an epiphany.
The morning commute is the perfect marketing tool. And no one uses it (pretty much).
Yesterday was the first day I wasn’t cocooned in my iPod and book. I was chatting with BG and had my eyes and ears totally open to the world around me.
I’m ashamed to say, it was probably a first.
A New World
I listened to the way people talked about current events, I spied what they listened to on their iPod, and I peeked over shoulders to see what people were reading (yeah, I’m that guy).
It was great! I picked up more details about human interaction than I would have after a week researching online.
How is this a marketing tool? Marketing is all about relationships, and becoming more so all of the time. As I mentioned in a post about how marketers are now anthropologists: “Now, relationships are a prerequisite to business, not vice versa.”
On the train, I was able to observe how people related to media, other people, and the world around them. You can figure out someone’s priorities pretty quickly in a packed train car.
For 30 minutes, I studied sociology, anthropology, and marketing all at the same time. And it was awesome.
Try Something New
What’s the alternative? Enveloping yourself in the retreat of a car interior?
If you live in a city with public transportation, let someone else do the driving tomorrow morning. It’ll give you time to study that elusive “public” marketers are always talking about. To paraphrase David Ogilvy, the customer isn’t an idiot, she’s your train companions.
If you’ve got the guts, we’d love to hear about your experience. Or, if you have another secret marketing tool – a place you go to check out human behavior – please also share it in the comments section below.
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Comments
06.25.09
Great post. All too often I hear people say that riding transit is a big waste of time. There are so many things that can be accomplished during those trips.
06.25.09
So right, Rob.
I never go anywhere without a book or my iTouch, but just watching folks is very useful too!
06.25.09
I'm definitely a fan of public transportation myself, and the train/subway in particular. The people watching aspect is certainly one part of that. I don't think there is any other place or way that I would regularly be so physically close to such a wide variety of people.
06.25.09
I'm glad that you mention things that I could do should I ever find myself on public transportation without a book or mp3 player.
It probably won't ever happen.
I never ride public transportation, seeing I live in the suburbs. And when I do ride public tranaportation, it's when I am a tourist, with my wife and six-yr-old in tow and too busy looking for my next stop to pay attention to people or books.
But still... good info to know. :)
Ya know.. just in case.
06.25.09
I use to ride public transportation all the time until I recently got my first car (I still do ride occassionaly) and it's an excellent place for marketing. I mean you stand to wait for the train and then you sit in the train bunched up with people. A good marketing department or firm would definetly take advantage of it, gives the riders something to read or look at so they don't have to awkwardly find an area of the train to stare at without looking at something. I could see a marketing stunt with an actor on the train going well because people can easily stand out with a simple backflip with a companies name on the t shirt.
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