Curious behavior

I was driving through the city today and saw the strangest thing. A man walked part way along a crossing in front of the stopped traffic, put his Gloria Jeans coffee cup on the bitumen, looked up and down the street - raised both arms in the air, first 2 fingers held out in a Victory sign, then picked up his cup, continued crossing the road and strode off without a glance back!

I pondered on his curious behavior for a while - what did it mean? Was he a little touched by the excessive Melbourne heat we have been experiencing? Did he care that people were watching or was it his own private ritual? Was it a peace protest for a cause, if so what cause?

Then I started thinking how much like marketing that behavior was. We create ads, posters, banners, promotional items, brochures, blah blah blah - we walk around, put down our coffee cup, undertake some bizarre attention seeking behavior and hope that people get it and are moved to take action.

Hmmm, curious indeed. There is so much buzz around interactive marketing, and I may have heard the term 'me-kerting' bandied about, or did I just make that one up! If so I think it is perfect for what we really need to do now as marketers - it's about ME not the ad or the copy or the company or the product.

So then the question remains, how do we get our curious behavior noticed by the people who are going to be most curious and then engaged to do something about it? And the final message from my peace loving coffee drinker is that we need to be sure that our message is dirt clear...not masked in obscurity.