Blog Post for Dummies

Note: This post was inspired by a bathroom ad for Trojan condoms. There, I said it.

Marketing 101 would dictate that one should never insult one's customers, right? Wrong.

Imagine this: A young entrepreneur sits in a glossy 14th-floor conference room and makes his pitch to three suits at a global publishing conglomerate. "Here's the thing," he explains. "People want to know how to do things. We publish a series on how to do stuff, in a really easy format. We could start with gardening."

"Great," the brass reply. "What should we call it?"

"Gardening for Dummies."

Boom! Fifteen jaws hit the floor in unison. "We can't insult our customers! Who's going to buy something that calls them a 'dummy'?"

As it turns out, quite a few (I think I just saw "Making Whole Wheat Pumpernickel Bread With Sesame Seeds For Dummies" at Barnes & Noble). Now Trojan is calling its customers "pigs" and telling them to evolve. I'll bet you anything it's working.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that General Motors go out tomorrow with an TV campaign called, "Hey, Moron, Buy a Chevy!" But in general, people are far more forgiving (and self-deprecating) than we give them credit for. It's another case of "focus" vs. "inclusion." When you have the opportunity to really cut through with 80 percent of your market, it can actually be worth the risk of alienating (or mildly offending) the other 20. Only an idiot would feel otherwise.