As the walls of Jericho tumble, reevaluate everything

CBS yesterday announced that Jericho has been canceled.

The show was canceled because it failed to take into account the Gen Y viewer and the fact that while they watch the program, they don't do it in a way a major network understands. I'll be writing more about this in the coming days.

CBS isn't alone. Banks don't understand Gen Y -- a group also labeled "milennials" -- either. A recent report from Forrester blunty titled Consumers don't enjoy financial services made this really clear. Banks cater to boomers and run their banking processes the same way they did 30 years ago, minus the free toaster. 

Some tidbits from the report:

-- "35% of consumers fall into a segment that we call “at-risk” because of their low level of enjoyment with their bank. Compared to other segments these ”at-risk” consumers are the youngest and have the highest income."

-- "Young females (Gen X and Gen Y) report the most problems with their banks."

My own observations on Gen Y:

• They have much more refined self-marketing skills than their older counterparts.
• They can hold important day jobs and build/run small web businesses at night.
• They have money. Many still live at home, saving, and don't feel bad about it.
• They are open, transparent and have nothing to hide.
• They don't "Learn" or "adapt to" technologies. They take them for granted.
• They bounce between media like pinballs.

Growing up, I remember mom and dad sitting in front of the tube together at night, on a couch covered in plastic, watching their favorite shows while eating cake and drinking coffee -- then going to bed.   

Millennials work out. They socialize. They gather at Starbucks and dig into their school or work projects. If there's a TV program they like they Tivo it. Watch it on their time. Not someone else's. They record it. Download it. Rent it on Netflix. 

Trying to evaluate this huge and powerful demographic using standard methods like Nielsen ratings, or trying to penetrate their social consciousness using old fashioned messaging will serve to cancel your own program, regardless of how big of a hit it once was.

What can you do? Take a different measure of your business. Start by assessing who your customers are. The facts are everywhere - yet the greater real estate population ignores them. Your customer is 10-20 years younger than you, the average agent. You cannot force them down your old chute. You need to build new chutes. And start sliding down theirs.

In the spirit of Jericho, I am advocating the nuking of your marketing plans. Nuking your current website. Your photos. Your message. Your tag-line. Your flyers. Your post cards. Those self indulgent press releases.

Gen Y is not reading, watching or viewing them. 

It's slow now. You can sit all day mulling over the good old days or stuck in the "where to should I start mode". Start anywhere. But start on the things that matter.

- Davison

For anyone interested, use this Petition to let the Sci-Fi channel know you want to see this program live another day.

60 Minutes on real estate, act two

Last night, millions of Americans got to watch 60-minutes' latest installment on the real estate market.

The segment centered on Stockton, California - ground zero for the foreclosure epidemic, where 4,200 homes  either sit in default or foreclosure. That number was accentuated by ForeclosureRadar.com CEO Sean O'Toole, who illustrated the foreclosure landscape though a city map littered with red and blue dots. According to O'Toole, "The red dots indicate which homes are bank owned, the dark blue dots indicate which homes are being auctioned and the light blue indicate which homes are now in default". He expects many more red and blue dots to appear on his map over the coming months [Disclosure, ForeclosureRadar is a 1000watt client].

Homes are now being auctioned like cattle as homeowners, unable or unwilling to deal with the problem, are  abandoning their homes as if they were bad marriages.

It's hard to watch this unfold and not find yourself feeling weary trying to figure out if this could have been averted. Homeowners, at least the few that were interviewed, just seemed downright ignorant and irresponsible. They appeared unaware, perhaps willfully, of what an ARM is and unaware of how buying a half-million dollar home with no money down on middle class wages could ever pencil --- unless, of  course, home prices just continued to soar at 22% a year ... forever.   

The good news for Realtors is there were no fingers pointed towards real estate agents, nor did the segment attempt to cast them as party to the debacle. But it did manage to cast an eye on one local agent who leads  a twice daily Merry Prankster-like bus tour of foreclosed properties. I admire his creativity, but he came off looking like a vulture picking at the scraps of the housing carcass. More subtle and professional methods to handle this are in order.

If this segment did anything, it highlighted the critical, desperate, dire need for honorable, trustworthy, professionals to step up and really start representing.

- Davison

When AdAge starts asking questions, will real estate start listening?

From Advertising Age:

Pay head to what Realtors don't say in their latest pitch

It's one thing for me to constantly harp on the NAR and others for their loose grasp on reality when it comes to advertising, messaging and designing campaigns based on trust and transparency. But when AdAge takes it to task, maybe it's time our industry take the blinders off and grab a second look at what they push out into the marketplace. 

I've never liked the NAR's ethics campaign. It never resonated with me, or maybe anyone for that matter. Honestly, how could it when the spokespeople for ethics are themselves under investigation by the DOJ? But beyond that, can you really sell "ethics" today? Is there a single American who believes anything is ethical because a commercial tells them so? I doubt it. Ethics has been sold down the river in a boat steered by Jeffery Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski, Bernie Ebbers and so many others.

In the words of AdAge:

The campaign, in other words, is a perfect miniature of the inherent conflict of interest Realtors wallow in, like pigs in the sty, all the time. They have no incentive to perform due diligence for buyers. They don't even have incentive to protect their clients, the sellers. Their only interest is in closing the sale. Seven percent of $500,000 is $35,000, no matter who else takes a bath.

I'm not going to go through each paragraph of the article and point out where the writer is off base or over the top in his disdain for the industry. And there's no good reason to anyone to get defensive about his statements. Instead, what we should all focus on is the level of bias the writer possess, which I maintain is shared by many. Far more than I think our industry wants to recognize.

Never is there a more important time than right this second to look at everything you do that is public facing. Check it for bullshit. Check it for hyperbole. Check it for self-aggrandizement. If you blog, talk about this article. Expose it. Write about it. Create a position that removes you from the general stereotype.

If you do not blog, think of ways you reach your constituency, your sphere and help them deal with their issues that right now, they might be dealing with alone. Without you.

NAR could hire the best ad agency on the planet. It won't matter if they can't get the message straight

I'm guessing some of you can.

- Davison