The signs are everywhere:
Fly any domestic airline and you feel hated the moment you walk into the plane. (The feeling is mutual, as you can see from this Twitter search.)
Phone trees are a clear sign that a company hates their customers. They don’t even want to hear from them, they just want them to consume and be quiet.
Banks really hate their customers. Fees, hidden fees, hidden fees behind hidden fees.
Telco’s? Oy.
When was the last time you stood in line at the post office? There are some exceptions but most employees despise each and everyone in the line. They feel entitled to yell at people not standing behind some imaginary line and don’t even bother to look up when talking to you.
One word: DMV.
How can you expect your customer to love you when you hate them?
Just watch commercials.
Dopey men.
Women getting excited about a new laundry detergent.
More dopey men.
Kids who want nothing in the world more than a crappy plastic toy that accompanies their crappy meal.
Even more dopey men.
Did I mention dopey men?
Since Roseanne left the building, the working class has become the laughing stock of the entertainment and advertising industry. They just want to sit in front of the TV, drink beer, eat fattening food and stare at skirts. That’s how we portray our customers.
While we glorify people like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton: empty heads that never contributed anything to society besides conveying the message that being famous is more important than doing something good and valuable.
You need to love your customers.
They deserve it.
They have been through hell.
Most of them are still in hell.
They live in daily fear because one more little disaster might cause their personal, financial apocalypse. They are the 15% of unemployed/underemployed people that don’t see a future. They are the employed that fear they might join the 15% very soon. They have given up on wanting something, they just focus on surviving.
We are all responsible to create a new culture.
Whatever you do in advertising, it influences our culture.
It changes how people feel about themselves.
This goes way beyond being empathetic.
It’s is about taking off your Madison Avenue shoes and walk in Main Street shoes.
It’s about stop pleasing your ad friends and start pleasing real people.
It’s about making a difference.
It’s about love.
A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge – Thomas Carlyle.
