There is something to be said for being able to lock down and focus on your target market. I saw an excellent example of this over the holiday season from HBO in their True Blood DVD holiday commercial.
People who are fans of True Blood are truly fans. I have yet to meet someone who has lukewarm feelings about the show, people love it or hate it. After listening to a friend go on and on about the show last summer, I started watching and became a fan too.
As a fan, I frequently bust into my Bill Compton voice. Whether I am quoting a line from the show or asking someone to pass the rolls at dinner, it is hilarious. Fans of the show will completely understand this; those of you who don’t watch have probably already given up on this blog post because you don’t get it.
Back to the brilliance of this commercial, they put a lot of thought into exactly who their target market was for this product. They could have taken an approach of casting a wide net and trying to get people who don’t watch the show to be interested, but they didn’t. They decided to focus directly on the people who would be the most likely to buy the product. The season ended in August, so fans have been without their fangy friends since summer.
I don’t know what the sales looked like, but I know when I saw the commercial, I showed people who I knew were fans. Everyone laughed hysterically and thought it was awesome. Also, I did end up getting season one on DVD as a gift. I was going to buy season two for another fan, but the store was sold out, so it worked within my circle of friends and family who fall into the True Blood Fan category.
Some people might consider this strategy a risky one, after all, when I saw the Entourage DVD commercial that was along the same lines, I didn’t get it. I think that is okay though. Sending out a clear, focused, and targeted message can be extremely effective. Saying exactly the right thing to the right group of people can produce better results than making a broad statement to try and speak to everyone.
Fan or not, watch the commercial and share your thoughts:
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Never watched the show, but I “get” what their doing, no problem. It’s smart, too.
It’s funny, when I saw the Entourage one, I thought “that’s dumb.” Then I saw the True Blood one and said, “that’s brilliant.” At that point, I “got” what the Entourage one was all about and realized the brilliance of their efforts.
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