We Are All Weird - Food for Thought

[Mikaela]

Even though I'm not in marketing, I like to read some of Seth Godin's books because they are often insightful into other areas of life.

His newest book is called We Are All Weird. I got it on my kindle and its a fairly short read, but it's pretty good nonetheless. I was amazed at how many times I was thinking about -this- in conjunction with what he was saying.

The basic premise is that mass marketing is dying/dead. The highest watched shows now are a small percentage of watchers of the Beverly Hillbillies when it was on. Pumping money into a commercial is ineffective because the concept of the mass being a normal majority is gone.

The bell curve is flattened. We're all weird and we all have 'tribes' or communities now of support and interest that takes us outside of this mythological normal because we all have choices.

Here are some quote/tidbits from or about the book.

"But what happens when mass disappears? When we can connect everyone, customize and optimize--then what happens to normal? Normal is so ingrained in what we do every day that it's difficult to notice that your tendency toward the normal is now obsolete."

"The epic battle of our generation is between the status quo of mass and the never-ceasing tide of weird."

I think the next three were some of the things that spoke to us....

"Tribes are fueled by our never-ending desire to avoid loneliness. Weirdness (which used to be a shortcut to lonely) is now fueled by the very tribes that fought it."

"As soon as we remove physical proximity as a gating factor, the only barrier to weirdness is choice. "

"Weird is not immoral"

Here are some links.
Audio Interview: http://benztownbranding.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/we-are-all-weird-seth-godin-about-his-new-book-radio-managers-and-brand-development-in-media/
Text interview: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/09/21/seth-godin-says-that-being-weird-is-a-good-thing/
http://www.amazon.com/Are-All-Weird-Seth-Godin/dp/1936719223
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/we-are-all-weird.html

[Debra Russell]

Whats weird about dressing in womens clothes? :heehee: .................Debra

[SusanLCD]

An interesting premise to explore.

My daughter recently told me of a book that promotes the marketing concept that "small is the new big." That parallels the initial message you've posted here.

Big marketers have always marketed to the norm. For example, Walmart's store content for anything other than day-to-day supplies is irrelevant. Because they mass market, they must stock to the lowest common denominator and for the lowest cost. Consequently, anyone wanting something of quality must go elsewhere, ie., smaller more selective retailers who don't compete with Walmart on price.

The television advertising you mentioned is no longer relevant, either. Advertising occupies so much of the broadcast time, that there is much less available for entertaining content. The cost of broadcast time has increased to the point that entertainment is aimed at the lowest common denominator, too. The result is lack of interest from the majority and declining viewership to see the advertising. A vicious cycle for them.

So, how does the changed world of marketing to smaller "tribes" help us? I can think of at least one way: targeted advertising on the internet can now be directed to all types of weird markets, including ours. I can't say that I've seen it, but, it could occur. Well, maybe. "It could happen."-Judy Tenuda

Maybe Google is working on it. :)

[Chickhe]

Ever go to Home Depot looking for 2 3/4 inch long nails? If you did people there would think you were weird because the masses buy only the sizes they are given. However, suppose some small group had a need for these nails and actually produced them...you get on the internet and you hook up with them to get the nails you want. Does it make everyone weird, or the masses obsolete? I don't think so, but if you are a big chain which somehow forced customers to use your product in the past you are going to have a problem if everyone starts demanding something better and you don't change.

[Miss Maxine]

If we are all weird, doesn't that mean that no one is?

[Kate Simmons]

Yeah it all goes South eventually until someone puts a different "spin" on the wheel and reinvents it. Then we become wired instead of weird.:)

[Cynthia Anne]

God is great!:) Beer is good!:drink::drink::drink: People are weird!:eek::eek::devil:

[helena.gcd]

i had a conversation a couple of days ago in which i said something that could relate to that weirdness statement:

"there are so many people with so many different sexual lifes (gays, BSDM, CDs,furries, feeders, swingers, etc) that those who call them selfs "normal" aren't actually "normal", they are just boring."

my 2 cents

[Josephine]

According to a book I read called "I'm okay, your okay", there is no such thing as normal. Normal only relates to what is normal for one person or another.

[docrobbysherry]

Here's a thot: Maybe these days, "normal" is "WEIRD"!?

[Kaitlyn26]

I'm not sure that I would arrive at the same conclusions that he has. The world has changed a lot. It could be literally millions of other reasons that those things are happening.