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This afternoon on my way home I stumbled upon a great, short lecture by Paul Field, the CEO of The Wiggles. It covers the 15-year career of one of the world's most popular kids entertainment groups and makes for a fascinating case study of consumer driven marketing....
It starts with a good product. The Wiggles set out to create a good kids product. They didn't start by focusing on the audience, but concentrated on creating something that was unique in the marketplace -- something that was better than anything else available at that time. Their first advantage was that they had talent and were good musicians.
You need to REALLY know your audience. The Wiggles met while studying early childhood teaching. So not only could they deliver well, they understood the strategies that were required to reach and engage their target audiences.
Do the hard work. When The Wiggles started touring, they booked places that they could afford close to their audiences. They played in carparks to four people. They played in church halls to 40. They played as support act to Barney, playing in the intermission -- realising that kids don't leave the theatre at intermission, but stay in their seats to eat snacks and talk about the show. Later they booked theatres in New Jersey because it was cheap and easy for their audiences to access.
Use the Internet to grow offline retail interest. In the first year of touring the USA, The Wiggles could not get retail shelf space so they sold DVDs online through Amazon. Wal-Mart took notice when they realised that The Wiggles were the fourth best seller for Amazon.
Trust your product. They were told repeatedly (and in different countries) that without changing their accents and their songs that they would fail -- that the kids simply would not understand the music. The Wiggles stood firm and refused, not understanding why you would want to throw out the differentiating factor that you would need to build market and brand presence later.
Remember your community roots. In the last year, The Wiggles played live to over a million people. And while they played the theatre at Madison Square Garden, they also played the theatre at the Hornsby RSL Club -- selling out both venues.
Play to the stakeholders too. It is not just the kids that The Wiggles have to please. It is the parents and other carers ... the ones who spend their money and their time on The Wiggles products, merchandise and live shows. I particularly love the story about Shaquille O'Neal turning up to a show with his kids dressed as a Red Wiggle (especially the part where The Wiggles were told "Shaq wants on").
And, of course, over and above these points, there is authenticity. The Wiggles ring true with kids and their carers because they "keep it real" ... they are nice guys who believe absolutely in what they do. In many ways, The Wiggles are a "lovemark" par excellence -- sure you can love a brand -- but how many of us wet our pants with excitement at the thought of a brand experience? That is true love.
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Comments
Gavin,
Nothing I say here can improve on this:
"And, of course, over and above these points, there is authenticity. The Wiggles ring true with kids and their carers because they "keep it real" ... they are nice guys who believe absolutely in what they do. In many ways, The Wiggles are a "lovemark" par excellence -- sure you can love a brand -- but how many of us wet our pants with excitement at the thought of a brand experience? That is true love."
That's right!
Posted by: Lewis Green | 01.18.07
Great post Gav, these tenents apply to all brands. Laura Ries has followed The Wiggles on her blog as well ( http://www.originofbrands.com ).
Love how you end the post by saying: "but how many of us wet our pants with excitement at the thought of a brand experience? That is true love."
Posted by: CK | 01.18.07
I was told by (?) that the wiggles were actually in a rather popular Australian Punk Band in their youth.
"Anthony Field (vocals, guitar) and Jeff Fatt (vocals, keyboards, assorted instruments) had been members of The Cockroaches, a popular eighties pub rock band which toured widely and had a number of Top 40 hits in Australia ("Do the Monkey" is a reworded Cockroaches song, whilst "Dorothy the Dinosaur" is based on the song "It's Another Saturday Night"). Field enrolled in early childhood studies at Macquarie University in Sydney in the late 1980s, and it was here that he met two other students who were also musicians — singer Murray Cook and vocalist Greg Page. Page, the youngest of the group, had come into the course straight from high school, but Cook and Field were mature-age students. Like Field, Cook had experience playing on the booming Sydney live rock scene of that period; he had played bass in a minor Sydney 1980s pop band, Finger Guns, while working as a clerk at the Australian Taxation Office.
According to an Australian magazine article, Greg was a roadie for the Cockroaches during the Australian summer (much to the chagrin of his parents) and was convinced by Anthony to go to Macquarie University with him and major in Early Childhood Development.
When Anthony, Murray, and Greg went into the studio to record their first album, "The Wiggles," Anthony needing a keyboardist, asked his old bandmate, Jeff Fatt, to help out. Jeff's reply was "Sure, but how long will it take..."
Wiki-sorry...I had to find out. Plus I don't know how to embed links yet.:-)
Posted by: Tammy Strnatka | 01.18.07
Lewis + CK, thanks for the feedback -- I chuckled to myself when I wrote that last bit!
Have you had a chance to listen to the lecture (it's about 20 minutes)? It is peppered with anecdotes and is rather fun -- I also like the one about Robert De Niro scaring The Wiggles by sitting in his chair and giving them Cape Fear stares.
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | 01.18.07
Tammy,
Great stuff. Thank you. I love the history of bands. And I loved The Cockroaches but didn't make the connection.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 01.18.07
Great post, Gavin. And this is indeed a classic line:
"...but how many of us wet our pants with excitement at the thought of a brand experience?"
Perhaps fans of Tony Bennett? But I guess that would be the other extreme of the music fan spectrum...lol....(kidding!)
Posted by: Ann Handley | 01.18.07
Tammy, thanks for seeking the history out ... The Cockroaches were very popular here in Sydney in the 80s but I would never call them "punk". They were certainly lots of fun!
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | 01.18.07
Gavin-
I'm glad I stuck around to read the post! All the primary colors almost scared me off, but I made the right decision and stuck with it. It's interesting because I generally expect things like this to be some corporate manufactured piece of kiddie junk, but these guys look more like the second coming of the rolling stones. Crazy!
Posted by: Paul McEnany | 01.18.07
I should probably clarify. By "look," I don't me physically, but because they started from nothing and worked their way up to stardom. I'm a jackass. :)
Posted by: Paul McEnany | 01.18.07