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17/02/2011 by
6322 views

I Lost My Father To Android

My once so digital-less father was someone I could confide in, he was the one to go to for advice. Nowadays he is up to his nostrils in Angry Birds, Google Maps, Spotify and my sister’s Facebook.

So why does my dad adopt those apps and why smart phones?

Last Tuesday I was attending a lecture on Media Buying and Targeting Audiences.
Basically meaning; Pushing content to your target audience. Question being; what amount of money does their client have available and how much reach can they guarantee for that amount?
Not so much about achieving brand and business objectives but obtaining maximum spread within target audience… I think they call that ROI. Don’t ask me why.

The point is that they gave me an interesting insight on the M/F Target Audience in the age group of 32 to 45 years old. Apparently they understand the least of the whole social and digital era and of course they are the ones who media is being sold to.

What I found interesting was the reason why that demographic group knows the least about our social and digital era. Apparently they aren’t confronted with these technologies on a daily base. Sure they see the world around them talking about these social digital themes, and yes, there is buzz around it but strangely they’re not catching on to this paradigm shift?
However they do feel the sense of urgency to do something social…

Advice: think before you act, you might be going to a Hockey Match with a Hula-Hoop.

So why do the 45+ age group catch on? 
The older generation have kids and all kids rock their smart phones, flaunt on social platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter etc and integrate social in their lives. They’re continuously influenced by their direct peers and they make decisions through peer recommendations or endorsements. So that stuff definitely rubs off on their parents.

It certainly has done so to my dad… (although I am 30 and my dad is 63)
Three months ago, after my father’s 1st failure on Smart Phones (won’t mention the brand name) I decided to buy him an Android based HTC. Okay; I am not your typical techy, but I looooove my smartphone, the emails I receive on it, the agenda function that keeps me on time 24/7 and the social integration that enables me to have the privilege to enjoy the social world!

Dad and I are both wine enthusiasts, we are music fans, we both have an awful sense of direction and we are always trying to quench our insatiable thirst for information. Also for my dad the reason to have Facebook on his phone is because my grandmother had a page. So how did we choose his phone?  

  1. What is it you want to do, share and know?
  2. What platforms fulfil these needs?
  3. What platforms/hardware suppliers aren’t crooks? (apple being a crook ;-))
  4. What is an autonomous and fast-growing platform?

 Choice fell on HTC’s Android based phone.

Personally I believe sharing social with my dad is great stuff; nowadays we are sharing our favourite tunes through Spotify, we laugh at relatives thanks to Facebook, we send each other articles and we can find our way back home when we’re lost thanks to our smart phones!

Social isn’t a platform; it is the interaction between people and finding a common denominator. Technology and Social Marketing can be one between parents and their offspring.

How do we find a common denominator to reel in the generation in between?

So I feel the question is not if you are going to do social, the question is how good are you going to be!

 

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Neil Draper
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