Media Industry Bias causes Barbie to advertise for T-Mobile and EasyToys

“99.9% of the time, people don’t give a sh*t about your brand,” says Adam Ferrier, founder and consumer psychologist at the Australian agency Thinkerbell. Because while we “industry geeks” spend a large part of our day focused on one or more brands, the average Dutch person is far too busy for that. In fact, they’ll do everything they can to avoid advertising. As a marketer, it’s crucial to be aware of this and not fall prey to Media Industry Bias!

Media Industry Bias (introduced two years ago by Validators) refers to the fact that someone who works in the media industry views marketing and advertising differently than the average consumer. Media Industry Bias arises from a misinterpretation of consumers’ thought processes. While a marketer is preoccupied with brands all day long, the average consumer’s experience is completely different. Consumers lead hectic lives. They’re busy with work, hobbies, household chores, and friends. As a result, delving into the content or message of an advertisement is absolutely not a priority for them.

Cases that raise our eyebrows

As a brand, it is therefore crucial to tailor your messaging to your audience. And while that sounds simple, we at Validators still regularly come across cases that leave us scratching our heads. For example, we recently noticed the bright pink outdoor advertisement shown above—who could have put it up?

The creators certainly didn’t lack confidence. Using nothing but bright pink and a date was nothing short of genius. The creators also received a lot of praise online from their peers. We were curious and decided to take a closer look at this campaign.

69% of Dutch people have no idea who the sender is

What did we find out? 69% of Dutch people had no idea who the sender of this message was. Who did they think it was? T-Mobile was the most frequently mentioned, at 18%. EasyToys was also mentioned (2%). And although it was only a few people, EasyToys scored twice as high as the actual sender: Barbie! Unintentionally, the marketers at Barbie had thus spent part of their media budget on a completely different type of toy.

It probably comes as no surprise, but the message—the premiere of the new Barbie movie—didn’t resonate with the audience. Would the results have been better if the campaign had targeted a more specific audience? Undoubtedly, but out-of-home advertising is precisely the kind of medium that can attract people outside your existing target audience and boost your sales.

You’ll see the most growth among new fans, not among loyal ones

What does this teach us? Avoid this costly mistake and don’t just develop content for a single specific target audience—instead, reach out to a broader audience. Because it is precisely within this broader audience that there is significant potential to increase your visitor numbers.

Would you like more information? Please contact: business@validators.nl