2022 superb Focus Teams and the Oracles of Eden Prairie cartoon –

This cartoon is much less about focus teams than how we regularly use focus teams.  Or actually any kind of market analysis.   

Years in the past, I overheard some company associates joke about “the Oracles of Eden Prairie.”  Eden Prairie is a suburb of Minneapolis, the place lots of focus teams occur.  

These company associates went on to explain the unusual technique of bringing new concepts (for campaigns or new merchandise or packaging designs) to be judged by “the Oracles of Eden Prairie” — eight randomly chosen individuals who had no concept how a lot energy their phrases held on whether or not these concepts made it.

Often they have been requested to opine on questions anybody would have hassle answering with any accuracy — like articulating their “unmet client wants.”  Later, verbatim quotes have been taken from the main target teams to justify all types of choices, usually as unquestionable sources of reality.

I as soon as drew the Oracles of Eden Prairie in a cartoon on the prime of a mountain, with a marketer climbing to ask, “Oh all-knowing focus group, inform me your unmet client wants, in order that we are able to create disruptive improvements for you.”

The Oracles reply: “Extra promotions” and “Make all the pieces cheaper.”

Stephan Gans at Pepsi lately talked about utilizing an AI device from an organization known as Tastewise to analysis new snackfood taste concepts.  Tastewise makes use of AI to research patterns in knowledge from 5 million recipes, two million menus, and 22 billion social media interactions to floor insights no particular person client would ever be capable to articulate. I like this commentary:

“In the event you would’ve requested shoppers, ‘tell us what you suppose can be an important taste for this model,’ no one would have ever provide you with seaweed.

“Individuals don’t affiliate that sometimes with a specialty snack from a model. However due to the sort of listening and the outside-in work that we did, we have been in a position to determine that out by means of the AI that’s embedded in that device.”

Not each market analysis device is correct for each market analysis query.  Treating any supply of client insights as an oracle can lead you astray.  They’re all instruments for decision-making, however shouldn’t exchange decision-making itself.

Listed below are a couple of associated cartoons I’ve drawn over time, together with considered one of my earliest in 2002 — again once I known as this collection Model Camp:

“If advertising and marketing stored a diary, this may be it.”

– Ann Handley, Chief Content material Officer of MarketingProfs

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