Undercover Boss : A lesson For ALL Marketers?
O’ the lessons to be learned from daily life. How we humans drift away from the simplicity of life to make things multi-layered, extremely complex and place things on a path to their ultimate demise. Not trying to be apocalyptic.;)
Yes, I’m sure for some of you that have read my rants you already know that I feel that the majority of complex situations are the outcome of human involvement. At the core, at the very inner workings of all systems surely problems will eventually arise. They can usually be solved rather easily, but we have built systems of layers that filter simple problems and allow them to percolate into our delicious world of complexity.
And now…..drifting back on course:) Enter the radically simple show Undercover Boss. Should we be surprised by the success of the show? Or, should we realize that this is a fine example of simply tapping into the collective vein of the populations‘ consciousness and delivering a mass deliverable that can be uniquely personalized by each individual viewer? Yes, a mass item that can be uniquely personalized by an audience where the end result is that that it engages people for 17-22 minutes ( I subtracted commercial time:)
Isn’t this what we are trying to do as marketers? Relate to people by connecting to a universal truth that lives inside of everyone - that simply gets translated by a person’s own life experiences and allows them to have/create a deeply personal and meaningful internal event inside of them? One that is always connected back to the brand that evoked the strong emotional response - forming a life-long connection? Or, in this “cult of speed” world a bond that lasts at-least until we are able to touch them again to rekindle that emotion.:0
What a great show that taps into the every man/women feeling that exists at the core of the human condition. People just want to be understood. This show is simply a vehicle for demonstrating a clever way of taking the CEO out off the boardroom and onto the front lines with everyone else. It’s done so beautifully simple that everyone can sit in their recliner and relate - this show has a connected meaning and relevance to everyone - even those that haven’t tuned in yet. Even the CEO’s that are rocked back on their recliner - yes it’s that powerfully simple. I can only hope that they don’t tinker with the simplicity of the show as I’m sure WOM will grow the audience. As marketers, I hope that we too continue to try to find something so relatable, so connectable for our audiences that we too can engage them with their emotional rolodex. That this universal truth that we discover have an unmistakable connected meaning and relevance to our client’s brand, and their audience so that we can deliver simple, yet remarkably powerful brand experiences from now until the end of time.








February 23rd, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Thanks for writing a post on this show. I enjoy watching Undercover Boss for several reasons. I like the insight it gives as to how the company runs and the weaknesses it uncovers. This show is a great opportunity for companies to star in. The publicity and awareness it would bring in would be well worth a costs.
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
It is a great show, although I wonder how much we don’t see. From a marketing perspective, think of all of the “product placement” time the company receives as well. It is great marketing on behalf of the companies that are participating. To get the amount of airtime in commercials would cost millions, but 7-11, Waste Management, and Hooters have gotten it all for free.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Thanks for posting about the show, Erik. I’ve only seen the Hooters episode so far, and my wife raved about the 7-11 episode, but I can’t help but wonder: The companies who participate in the show are probably, by the very fact that they’re willing to participate, already companies that get it and are open to real discussions and potential improvements. It may be that the companies most in need of having the top dog go undercover are the ones that will never never see it happen: “I don’t need to go undercover, I know exactly what’s going on.”