Knowing your customer

It is Super Bowl Sunday with less than 90 minutes to go to kickoff and what I've found most exciting is, no not the team match-up, but the VW ad which will air during the game but has already become a must-see in the past couple of days.

If you haven't already seen it, it is worth a look - it is heartwarming, geeky and funny and very well done, with the car having a subtle but powerful placement. You may wonder why I'm writing about a Super Bowl ad from a big auto company in an entrepreneurial blog. It is not a big stretch - this ad speaks volumes for thinking different and having a fresh approach which are de rigeuer for entrepreneurs. But, most importantly it shows that they truly know their customer. It is clear that the car is aimed towards young families where the parents grew up with Star Wars and are now excited about introducing their own kids to it. The kind of family that would have more than a little fun with the idea and would find the commercial both pleasing as well as memorable. And they released the ad early in order to build online buzz - again guessing, correctly, that making an impact through social media can only add to the TV viewing and not dilute it in any way, especially with their core audience.

Watching the ad was a lot of fun, but it also reminded me how important it is, whether you're a startup or big company, to know your customer. Early stage companies cannot dream of Super Bowl ads, but they can make sure that their one-pagers, presentations, websites, even FAQs, status updates and email messages are crafted so they speak to their customer - which means knowing what is important to them, what touches their hearts as well as engages their minds. It is much harder when you're a small startup and probably don't have dedicated staff for this - most likely the founder/entrepreneur is doing the bulk of the 'messaging' - but it is all the more critical to remember to maintain the customer focus.

I plan to watch the game with friends and while I'll be enjoying the general Super Bowl hoopla, I'm sure some of the enjoyment will come from viewing the commercials with an entrepreneur's eye - maybe there'll be more inspirations to be found there. And, here's the VW ad - enjoy!