Know Thy Audience

The job of the Vice President of the United States is one of the most vaguely defined in our political system, but it consists of two absolute necessities:

         1. Be alive in case the president dies

         2. Help the president get elected (or re-elected)

Last week Vice President Joe Biden failed miserably in his latter responsibility when he tried to rally support for Barak Obama by telling attendees of a San Francisco rally that "the Giants are going to the Superbowl!."

As we know now, the Giants will in fact be going to the Superbowl, but to the chagrin of San Francisco fans everywhere and as anyone who's ever watched an NFL game knows; the Giants play in New York (New Jersey to be precise). Old Amtrak Joe most likely confused this team with their baseball equivalent (who do in fact play in San Fran), but nonetheless the gaffe is sure to stay with him as part of his legacy as Veep.

Not just a comical punchline destined for SNL's cold open, Biden's mistake illustrates a crucial core competency to successfully bring a product to market: Know thy Audience. I don't need a focus group to tell me that people will be more receptive to the product I am offering them if they think I can understand their needs.

History is littered with examples of companies large and small that dove into new markets without a full understanding of their audience:

·   Disney almost bankrupted their new park in Paris because they didn't serve wine, a staple of the European meal.

·   Coca-Cola had to recall their 2 liter bottles from Spain because local refrigerators couldn't fit them.

·   An American airline promoted that they offered "rendezvous lounges" in Brazilian airports without realizing that in Portuguese, "rendezvous" refers to a place to have sex.

Mistakes like this can undo months of planning, be incredibly expensive and worse of all- indelibly harm a brand's reputation among a demographic. At Viximo we are constantly expanding into new markets, so it is crucial that we take the time to understand the habits of our new audience. Not all games, branding, or marketing tactics will work equally well across our portfolio. That's why we take the time to work with our publishing partners to learn about their users, examine successful games already in the area, and research behavioral and social tendencies of the region, to decide which of our various games and promotions will work best to maximize our audience's enjoyment. Doing this kind of legwork before launching in a new market ensures that we are never encouraging our audience to do something like root for the other team in a playoff game.