'Cause your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear
Who hasn't been marketed to?
Who hasn't scratched their head and thought: "This brand thought this would appeal to me?"
On the human level, we want connection. And connection is personal.
When marketers get a targeted or personalized experience correct it can be magical. Memorable even.
So what strategy is best when you have some data on your segment, but don't know for sure what each customer prefers? That's when brands might rely on a broad message, with the intention that it will either be widely acceptable, or have all encompassing message that appeals to a wide audience. This approach can be succcessful and often is when the content itself is not the main focus of the experience. It's an approach we applied to the example below where SiriusXM wished to show breadth and depth of content.
An evolving approach, which was more targeted and also served to make focus on a more personal connection, one artist to one listener, involved designs that feature the breadth of content across categories, but that focuses on a highly personal connection we have to audio content we are attached to.
By featuring a variety of photography that often features live performance- we allowed the customer to connect with the idea of fandom around an artist, group or entertainer. The challenge is the strong feeling that might be evoked if an artist is featured the customer does not know, or worse yet, does not appreciate.
Experimenting in both approaches allowed the business to get personal in some experiences and created the opportunity to devise design solutions that featured single artists while also showing breadth and depth. We achieved the best of both approaches.