An Untapped Market?

Is it me, or does it seem like a whole new level of "victim opportunists" has emerged lately?

I'm referring to people who have something bad happen to them, and then immediately seek out as much attention as possible.

Take this girl for example.
Girl doesn't wear underwear to school one day.
Photo is taken for the yearbook.
Photo shows more than it should.
Girl is embarrassed.
Mother demands that the school recall the yearbooks.
Mother and daughter go on TV to argue their point.

Whether or not the girl (or her mother) has a valid argument against the school, is going to the media really the best option?

From the article, it doesn't sound like it's an obvious image ("maybe it's a shadow"). Seems to me that years ago the girl would have simply lied about the lack of underwear, told everybody that it must be a shadow, act very angry that the photo is so misleading, and move on. At worst, she might be hassled by a few people and rumours would swirl around, and maybe she would be compelled to change schools.

There are many other examples like this lately.

Like the small village in the UK that raised a fuss about appearing in Google Earth because they were worried that criminals would see how nice their homes are.
Or the celebrities who consistently do stupid things in public, then demand their privacy while giving interviews on some gossip show or another (where the interviewer happily tells viewers a complete summary of the stupid things that were done).

It's more than just wanting attention and sympathy -- it's actually a case of the victim-initiated repercussions being far worse than the initial victimization.

Anyways, maybe there's an opportunity here for marketers.
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The well-known "Whopper Sacrifice" Burger King Facebook promotion related to this strange desire to be a victim and to tell people about it.

It would be interesting to explore this idea of helping customers fulfill a deep desire to be the lovable loser.

Freebies

I'm a sucker for free stuff.

I remember, as a kid, going with my parents to shop for a backyard hot tub. The place they bought from was a tiny little operation, but was great. The thing I remember most about it was getting freebies. Even after he made the sale, the owner showered us with goodies. Free extra filters, free chemicals, other free accessories, and even some free rubber duckies. All in all, it was probably worth a tiny fraction of his profit margin on the tub, but it certainly had an impact (not just on me, but my parents were very happy with the service and perceived value, too).

Unfortunately, the shop closed many years ago, but if it hadn't I would certainly be recommending it even today to anyone looking for spa equipment.

Much more recently, I had my dog at a local dog park. On he way out, we were stopped by a person handing out leaflets -- coupons for a couple of free dog biscuits at Three Dog Bakery, which had just opened a location nearby.

(Could you imagine any better targeting of your target audience?)

Anyways, the shop was on the way home, so we stopped there to check it out and get the freebies.

Once inside, the brand experience was great, with an extremely friendly employee and a nice little store to explore. We collected our free treats, and the shopkeeper also included a few other goodies to take home to sample. And gave our dog a bunch of bits and pieces of treats to try right there in the store.

And it worked -- on our way out, we bought several things that we might otherwise have not bothered with. But even more importantly, I was thoroughly impressed with the product quality, attitude, selection, and other aspects of the store and will definitely be returning (and recommending them).

One final note about this experience:
As we were leaving, a couple of little kids came into the store. They were participating in some sort of treasure hunt or "Amazing Race" activity. Apparently, their task at this store was to buy a dog biscuit for $1 and feed it to a dog. Ours was the only one there, so he lucked out yet again. What a great way to end this visit: seeing that the store is participating in a local event or organization, witnessing the store employee being absolutely great with the kids (making sure they asked before approaching a dog, etc.), AND getting another free goody.

A Higher Bar

People seem pretty good at figuring out solutions if challenged.

Here's one example of something I'd like to see:

At an airport, create a committee of, say, seven or eight people from various organizations and groups -- airline personnel, ground crew, security people, customs people, etc. Connect them to a strong network of people with technical knowledge in assorted areas (technology, law, anatomy, architecture, whatever).

Give them a simple question:
What do we need to do to make it possible for travelers to be on the runway within half an hour of arrival at the airport, without feeling rushed, for any routine flight?

Immediately, the naysayers will pipe up with "But security screening takes a while if we want to do it thoroughly!" or "At peak times there are just too many people in the airport!" or "You can only board so many people at a time!" or "We can't force everyone to arrive on time" or a million other excuses.

But imagine if this committee:
a.) Didn't have any people like this in its membership
and
b.) Believed from the outset that there must be some way to achieve the goal

Maybe it means changing the rules.
Maybe it means changing consumer expectations.
Maybe it means changing employee responsibilities.
Maybe a small fortune would have to be spent on re-designing the airport.

I bet there's a solution, though. And even if it's just a hypothetical one (for now), isn't that better than simply accepting things they way they are? Isn't it likely that some portions of the solution could be realistically implemented in the short term?

So many processes, businesses, places, brands, and organizations are broken that it would be really nice to see some of them push like this.