There seemed to be a frenzy on a few weeks ago for the new iPhone …

This has caused some queuing outside the O2 shops across the UK. Apple seem to be quite clever in the way they use scarcity to build their brand and there’s some kind of assumption that it must be amazing because it’s hard to get hold of one.

Doesn’t really work on me, I just carried on walking past the queue.

Then imagine my amazement when I saw a full size Dalek talking to the kids in the street while threatening to ‘exterminate’ them.

Great! Some company was combating the Apple hype with a marketing ploy of their own.

My only question was ‘what the heck are they selling?’. Surely it’s something related to Dr Who.

No…. it was a pet shop. Yes, a pet shop.

For some reason, one of the owners had got their hands on a full size Dalek and thought that this was a great opportunity to tell people about the two for one offer they have on dog toys and cat food.

Wrong.

As I walked briskly away to McDonalds, these two questions came to mind:

1. Do companies really know who their target audiences are?

2. If they do know who the target audience is, then do they know how to find them?

We’ll be answering these two fundamental questions at our next Workshop in August.

If you’re in the Birmingham area on the 11th August, we’d love to see you there.