Marketing Stereotypes: Old Ladies & Libraries
Little Old Ladies and Libraries. Wouldn’t it seem we’d be safe making some assumptions? Sedate. Quiet. Polite. Old-fashioned.
And, sure enough, some of these sweet little dears love libraries….but…
There are always thundering herds of ‘em (us?) at the monthly library sale here in Albuquerque. These seemingly frail “little” ladies give no quarter when you’re reaching for the same book. They’ll literally run right over you for that dog-eared Jackie Collins paperback. (And, man, those elbows are sharp…)
This past Saturday, I lost out to a very elderly, very sweet-looking grandmotherly woman for…wait for it…a whole pile of…comic books. Based on the look on her face and intense review of the books, I seriously doubt the comics were for the grandkids. (For that matter, there I was…50ish college-educated female anxiously awaiting my crack at the big box so I could maybe add some vintage X-Men to my bag full of Gourmet mags, military history and classic novels. I did manage to snag Volume I of The Ultimates. Kewl!)
And, it was impossible to get her attention as she was plugged into her iPod, nodding to the beat.
So, there ya go. NOT Sedate. NOT Quiet. NOT Polite. And most decidedly NOT old-fashioned.
P.S. I highly recommend comic books graphic novels to bust you out of your creative rut. Some of the best writers and artists work in the medium. These are not books for kiddies – Frank Miller (The 300, Sin City); Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and Death books; Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8; The Marvel Zombies (okay, the zombie superheros are way silly, but they are waayyyyy out-of-the-box thinking.)
What do you think? Leave a comment below – however, I moderate all comments, so it may take a bit to show up. Thanks for reading!
Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, stereotypes, target marketing
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Yes on Buffy, Season 8! I am several issues behind.
Sometimes you have to simply let your mind wander. It finds interesting things that way.
Now, if Joss would just resurrect Angel (sigh.)
I was a huge fan of the *old* Ginger Meggs comics when I was a wee lad. My grandmother[1] had a collection of these beautifully drawn and coloured books which were from the early 1940’s.
Lost *hours* engrossed in those tales of a very different, wartime!, Australia, and yet… so similar in attitude to Australians of today.
Cheers!
- Steve
[1] May She RIP. Her birth certificate was a hoot – Not “Commonwealth of Australia” like the rest of us. No. She was born in the “Colony of New South Wales”. Pre federation. 1899. Wheee!