A Moment of Horror

I met a friend for drinks to casually brainstorm on her company’s brand image. I sat down, ordered a beer, some appetizers. We chatted.  Eventually we got to the subject of the brand. 

She handed me a typewritten paper with notes written over the text in places and in the margins. Her hypothesis is that her new brand should be created like a persona.  This is akin to my conceit that product should almost be it’s own persona.  (Hence the name of this blog.) I respect my friend a lot.  She has of integrity and professional follow-though on her idea.  She’s currently working for a B2B consulting firm.

So finally, feeling the drink just a bit, I looked down at her page. 

To:
·    Men, aged 30-59, who are ambitious/resourceful/efficient/punctual
·    Who presently spend a lot of their time in their car, generally enjoy driving, and often find themselves in unfamiliar territory or unforeseen situations, and ..

The page swam beneath my eyes.  I felt myself flush.  Ugh.  Wrong. Horrible.  Wrong.. Ugh.

I said, “Um..”  Then, I looked back down at the page, there was something about those handwritten notes….

Ohh. I exhaled.  The notes were good.  The notes concerned buyers concerns and needs. Ohhhhhh.  My friend was using an old B2C brand statement as a template. Whew.