Are you serious?
After some advice from a good friend to buy some grown up stuff at Victoria’s Secret, I attempted to navigate the site. Now, I am not entirely unaware of VS, my mom got the catalogs when I was growing up and I frequently plan my trips through the mall so that I don’t have to explain why that 20 ft tall woman isn’t wearing any clothes to my boys thank you very much. I get it. Sex. Got it.
But I’m not sure that’s the most realistic viewpoint of underwear. I mean, it’s UNDERWEAR. Which brings me to my point. In the last few months, I think starting with Mary Ellen Slayter and Charlie Judy’s session at HREvolution in Atlanta there has been an effort at unconferences to try and solve a real-life problem. (It happened again to lively debate and a real solution for NPR’s Lars Schmidt at the most recent HRevolution session, spearheaded by Matt Charney, Meghan Biro and Kevin Grossman). And coming from a marketer’s perspective, I love it.
I am all about the consultative approach, so the fact that I like to talk to people, get a feel for their needs and concerns is no surprise, but what makes me even more attracted to the “solve a real problem” approach is that it quietly and happily acknowledges that we’re not all “on the bleeding edge” nor do we want to be. Jessica Lee approached this well here. There are thousands of HR pros out there who do not fit into your ‘user roles’ or ‘case studies’. They have ACTUAL issues to solve in their everyday workplace that may or may not be addressed by your solution!
Shocking. I know.
Which brings me back around to Vicky here. No one stands like this. No one ever will. Are you positioning your product in an awkward, akimbo stance that bears no resemblance to real-life just to make it look good?
Just curious.
