The Way It Is

One of the great things about working with children is that they ask the best (but often hard to answer) questions. I was on a hike with the Brownies and one of them asked ‘where do you go to school?’ I sheepishly replied that I had, in fact, finished school, and university, and now have a job. The obvious next question was ‘what’s your job?’ The conversation then went along these lines:

Me:                  I work in marketing.

Brownie 1:      What’s marketing?

Me:                 It’s… erm… when you try to get someone to think about something in a certain way, to get them to buy it.

[Google says “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” But try explaining that to a bunch of 7 year olds!]

Brownie 2:     You can’t make me think anything!

The little group of girls around me all said that they couldn’t be marketed at, as they held water bottles with One Direction plastered on them and flashed with every step in trainers that can only be described as not the most sensible option but, quite literally, the flashiest.

But it did get me thinking.

Get out of my head! Or don't, I actually like your stuff.

My Internet browser is now bombarding me with banners trying to get me to apply to Staffordshire University (don’t worry - I haven’t). I have not one, but three lip balms dotted about my desk and person at all times because they all claim to be the best. But the place I have noticed it most is on Spotify (incidentally also where Staffordshire University are vying for my attention through their radio station). I have the premium account on my phone, but as I had the free version on my laptop for so long, I couldn’t be bothered with making all my playlists again when I got a new account, so…ads.

I don’t listen to the radio, and I skip ads on TV, so why am I suddenly completely obsessed with James Bay? I thought when I saw the music video at a friend’s house that I’d just discovered this great artist. Then I realised I knew the words. How was that possible if this was the first time I was hearing it? Then a few days later I realised, when I didn’t completely zone out when listening to the ads. Spotify have been plugging his album and I've been sucked in by subconsciously listening to snippets of it in between Drowners and classic 80s numbers like The Way It Is (The Bruce Hornsby song, not to be confused with another classic of the same name by The Strokes - an all time favourite that they didn’t play when I saw them at BST a few weeks ago, why Julian, why?). They have been doing this for months and I - a marketing assistant - hadn’t even noticed. Maybe I’m not that different from the Brownies.

It's not our fault that we buy into things.

I guess that brings me conveniently to the end of this post. Marketing works - that’s just the way it is. It’s a great career to work in and I’ve had a lot of fun over the last few weeks making more videos and spending a lot of time editing the webpages, getting them ready for clearing. The university market is competitive and marketing is a vital part of the process. It just may take a bit of time for the Brownies to figure it out and for me to get Hold Back the River out of my head.