I spent some time this week with some of my favorite Sesame Street classics such as the amazingly funky counting to twelve, the classic fat cat sat hat sketch - and one of my all time favorites; Kermit singing that it's not easy being green.
As I was going through all these classics, I thought they were wonderful examples of lessons we can bring to the new challenges that we face as marketers.....
From online, to social media to the hyper-focus on ROI, to building community, trust and conversation - it's all there in Sesame Street. It's just another example of why I believe that the new marketing changes everything we know and nothing we do. The lessons that Bert, Ernie, Gordon, Maria, Big Bird and the gang taught us and that we took to school with us as kids - are just as relevant as the lessons we should take to work today as marketers.
Making Our Brand Stand Out In The Crowd
In "It's Not Easy Being Green" - Kermit the Frog helps us to appreciate the idea of being different - even if being odd, nerdy or sometimes misunderstood is not so easy. In the new world Of Seth Godin's "Purple Cows" we need to be remarkeable, or we risk being invisible. And Kermit let us know that this was okay.
Maintaining Connections Means Having Faith In That Connection
Take Big Bird and his friend Snuffleupagus. That is a special friendship. Remember, in the beginning Snuffy was just Big Bird's "imaginary friend" and no one was ever around Snuffy except for Big Bird. People would laugh at Big Bird and even question his sanity. But he maintained that connection, eventually helping Snuffy overcome his shyness - and becoming real to the rest of his community. That's a huge lesson for us as Marketers - as we begin to build programs that don't have an immediate ROI. We've got to have some elements of our programs that build long-term and deep connections with our community - even if it means risking some criticism or ridicule.Marketing Takes Perseverance & Sometimes You Just Have To Ask
Ernie teaches Bert and us that sometimes the traditional ways of getting attention sometimes aren't working. And, if they're not working, you can simply ask for it to change. And, you can't give up if you don't receive it the first time. Ask again.Understanding Our Audiences & Learning About Our Neighborhood
Who can forget how Bob told us to meet all the people in our neighborhood - and understand what they do. Who are the people in your neighborhood? With the idea of knowing our different audiences - it's more important than ever for us to know not only what our neighborhood does - but actually get out and meet them.Changing Our Appearance Doesn't Change Our Brand
In the classic, Me Girl and Witch segment, a child teaches a witch that even though she's dressed up in her mom's clothes, and the Witch changes her into a television, a spoon and a bird - she "still me". The idea that no matter what we do to outer appearances - for better or worse, we are still our brand. It's up to us to "live" and "be" our brand - not just change its appearance.Listening To Our Customers
In this classic sketch called "Super Grover" a child is lost, and Super Grover is going to come to her rescue. But instead of simply listening to her and helping her use the telephone, he instead only "does what he knows" and barrels past her into the telephone booth to change into his Super Grover Costume. Meanwhile, she loses all faith in him, and ultimately sneaks into the telephone booth to call her mom when he comes out. This is a classic lesson for us as we so often get in our own way when it comes to marketing. We believe that our message needs to be clever, or that customers need to go through our "regular sales process". We sometimes fail to listen to the customer when they actually may just want to simply buy.Certainly with more than 40 years of material, I could go on and on. But more than anything, I think the lesson of Sesame Street is really what you can accomplish with an honest, transparent and earnest attempt to build trust, friendship and hope. To this day, I can still sing the opening to the show, and many of the sketches above still make me laugh out loud. It's the kind of mark we all hope to make. One where everything's A-OK - Friendly neighbors there, and where we meet. Can you tell me how to get... How to get to Sesame Street...
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