On any given day riding the NY subway, one is always treated to a healthy dose of cultural anthropology. It remains one of the best opportunities to make simple observations about the diverse world around us.
I got my dose of reality on a random Saturday afternoon riding the 3 Train.
A 25-ish-year-old guy got on. He was pretty clean cut, trendy even, definitely didn’t meet the “panhandler demographic.” He stepped to the center of the train and made a very clear and direct announcement to all the riders: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not homeless or starving, I’m just a young man with a dream. So tonight I bring you my voice and my songs. All I ask is that if you like what you hear, please let me know.” He quickly put a bucket at his feet, which would imply “letting him know” required a monetary donation.
Now he has my attention. And because this is an express train, heading uptown from 42nd with no stops until 72nd street, I’m listening… whether I want to or not.
He proceeds to sing not one, but two songs. His voice was clear and bounced off of the walls of the crowded train in boombastic fashion. He could have easily been a contestant on The Voice but, sadly, there was no Adam Levine-wannabes on this train to validate his talent.
But then I started to cue in on the facial expressions of my fellow riders.
And I took my own survey of their reactions…
80% were irritated by the intrusion and tuned him out.
10% seemed indifferent.
4% actually showed some sign of enjoyment.
1% actually showed their approval by putting something in his carefully placed bucket.
While watching all of this, it dawned on me: this guy is no panhandler… he’s a marketer!
He is pushing a brand to all of us and the product just happens to be him. Could it be that the
subway is the underground “Madison Avenue?”
All of the elements are here to make this a frontier of rogue marketing…
First, he started with a captive audience. In this situation, there was no need for demographic data – no qual. or quant. research – it was simply a tin can packed with well over 50 people who all had the same motivation: to get from point A to B.
Second, he announced his message and then without our acceptance or any indication that we were even receptive to it, interested in it, or even the right audience for it, he proceeded to force it on us. (Well, so much for segmentation.)
Third, despite the fact there was very little engagement with his message by the audience (remember, 80% were totally stone-faced), he still expected some response.
Fourth, and since the train is public transportation, he only made a $2.75 investment in getting “media” for himself by using the train as his vehicle.
And lastly, he expected us to buy into his brand and spend our money to pay for a product we didn’t ask for and, after it was said and done, didn’t even take home!
I will say, it was genius to a degree. I mean, all he really needed to do was roll the dice and get on a more receptive car of riders and he might have hit the jackpot. That’s not that far off from what our marketing messages in the real ad world do. Low risk, high reward.
As marketers, we spend a ton of time and money trying to get consumers’ attention. We beat ourselves up writing the perfect brief or digging for the best creative. But maybe we should take a cue from the underground.
Because all we really are is a guy singing a song on a train.
-Vida Cornelious, Chief Creative Officer, GlobalHue
Photo Credit: Doug Segars