Lowest Common Denominators
We had an ethics case today primarily oriented around the attempts by Shell to sink the Brent Spar, an oil rig off the shore of the UK. Shell had done a lot of investigation of the most environmentally friendly and economic way to sink the oil rig. They found, through scientific analysis, that sinking it was actually the best option. Sounds contrary to belief, but it was the case.
Greenpeace decided it was a bad idea. They boated out to it and had a PR campaign that showed them occupying the rig with ads saying to stop Shell. They got a campaign to raise awareness and attempt to influence Shell into bringing the rig on land and dismantling it there. They won. It was not the best decision, but it was the one that took hold.
The reason? They got the public on their side by a simple and pointed message: ”Don’t Litter!”
Though this wasn’t the best option, it took hold with people. The reason is that marketing and communication are often tied to lowest common denominators. In math, that refers to a divisible numbers. In marketing, this refers to the communication that can resonate with the most people. This is the same reason that political campaign slogans are short, often rhyme and are also associated with imagery. Same reason brands exists as logos. Humans can remember these things very easily.
Of course, this situation also had a play on human perception of large entities and former thoughts on the parties. It was a David and Goliath situation, at least in the eyes of consumers. People tend to give a nonprofit the benefit of the doubt and are especially wary of larger corporations. Those aren’t bad things either.
Not all marketing uses lowest common denominators. Political campaigns thrive on them because they are often mass marketing, or trying to affect the largest group of people with the least amount of resources. A politician could probably win a lot of votes if they walked up to every house in their area and asked for their votes. But the resources are not supple for such activities. The same goes for large corporations trying to sell cereal; they are better off buying advertisements and touting their virtues than giving away a free sample to everyone. It’s cost prohibitive to do the latter. Hence the large cost for Superbowl ads.
Lowest common denominators rule marketing in certain kinds of marketing. The opposite is true for large, one time purchases. Someone selling a contract for large industrial engines or military supply will likely use a different approach to win over that one person who makes the purchase decision.
So marketers are faced with that choice. Do I build my brand through lowest common denominators and lots of ads…or do I go to lunch with my buyer and learn about their business before presenting them with the reason that my company’s offering is a perfect fit? Or, even better, do I meet with them first and tailor my offering to their needs?

I’ve toyed with the idea of buying cable for quite a while, but haven’t pulled the trigger because it’s too expensive for the tiny amount I watch television. Sports and the History channel are about all that get me going, so the investment never seemed worth it. I get movies from Netflix and stream them a lot. I don’t watch Hulu all that much anymore, but used to.
My end table in the living room is getting lost. Slowly but surely over the last month since getting back from a trip, I’ve been buying books. Most of them are business books. One on cash flow, one on game theory, a seminal Tom Peters book, an investment and personal finance book and an organization theory piece. Looking back at my book reviews from this site, there are only four for all of 2009! That’s a pretty sad state of affairs. Granted, I read more than that if you include text books, but still. I’m going to set a goal of reading at least a book a month this year. That pace is currently being met. I’d actually like to up that number to eighteen, but walk before you run.
Americans are tired of it…and they should be. Normal, average Americans have a job to do and they do it. They get up every day and go into work and do what they are supposed to. Our government has not. I will not point fingers as to the perpetrators of it as I only have two hands. But the inaction and polarization of parties supposed to solve our problems and progressively manage issues as they arise is disgusting. Politicians seem to only care about being politicians. It makes me think that there should be caps on the amount of time anyone can spend in office. Politics should not be a career.
I’ve really been getting into the
It’s not something I’d buy today. Granted, I just purchased a very nice and functional ASUS EEE which has thoroughly enamored me. There just isn’t enough email functionality there. Browsing seems much more advanced than the iPhone, but what is it really giving beyond that? I have iTunes on my netbook and don’t really use applications beyond reading the news and Twitter, but those are better done on actual sites.