Is Your Brand About Making Dreams Come True?

This past Sunday afternoon, I took a break and watched MTV.

I was there when MTV launched in 1981. Back then, it was all music videos.

Believe it or not, there is not a single show on MTV that features videos like “back then in the old days.”

The show that I was glued to yesterday was MADE. Have you ever seen it? If not, you need to.

Here’s the description of the show on MTV.com…

An ugly duckling transforms into a beautiful prom queen. An overweight couch potato becomes a model. A sci-fi nerd morphs into a hardcore rapper. Well, maybe its time to stand up and get MADE! That’s right, MADE is about making dreams come true!

MTV’s core viewership base is made up of lot’s of Millenniums… that generation whose age spans across late-teens through late-20s.

Millenniums sport a true “go-getter” personality.

According to the Yankelovich Monitor, 77% of Millenniums feel more energized and enthusiastic than ever about the possibilities of life ahead…11 percentage points higher than total adults!

And if you are a TV addict like I am…most of the top hit shows on TV today are all reality shows centered around individuals competing, achieving and doing things that personally move them forward.

The genre of television tells us a lot about the mindset of America and the generational group fostering it!

Boomers spurned the sit-coms that got us laughing at ourselves again. GenXers thrived in the high-action dramas and investigative shows that brought back a sense of control and rational thought as terrorism became a part of our daily lives.

And now Millenniums, after losing trust in everyone from the politicians to the CEOs to the news broadcasters, are following their instincts and empowering their own sense of self-invention.

From the top-ratings hit, American Idol on Fox to Moving Up on TLC to Cash Cab on Discovery Channel to Ice Road Truckers on The History Channel…the top TV shows center around the determination to write one’s own lifestyle script.

And while the Millenniums are fostering this mindset, consumers across all generational groups are adopting it.

According to Yankelovich, the importance of each of the following personal characteristics is up versus 2004…
• Being in control of your life… up 4 percentage points to 78%
• Standing up for yourself… up 9 percentage points to 77%
• Claiming a sense of self-reliance… up 8 percentage points to 71%
• Having a positive self image… up 5 percentage points to 71%

According to the press, America today is in a “gloom and doom” mindset.

According to the politicians, Americans need assistance and guidance from Washington to better their lives…something that they cannot as individuals achieve.

According to many marketers, their product is the missing answer that Americans need to fulfill their dreams.

I’ll put money on the table that none of the news anchors or the politicians or MBA-marketers watch MADE on MTV or Ice Road Truckers on The History Channel.

It’s unfortunate because then they might better understand how the American public today is bonding with individuals, resources and brands that facilitate, enable and confirm their sense of personal authenticity.

As we tell our clients REPEATEDLY… don’t tell your customers about you… tell them instead about them!

By the way, the gal on MTV MADE yesterday decided that she was tired of being a nerd and was going to be on the high school dance team.

And you know what… she did it.

And if she can achieve her dream… so can you!