There's a certain honesty in mockery that you can't get anywhere else. But that doesn't mean any of us wants to be mocked.
However, if you're a business, doesn't it make sense to learn as much as you can about why people do and don't like your product?
Agency Humanaut has come up with an interesting proposal along these lines. As my colleague T.L. Stanley reports on Adweek.com, the agency has recruited stand-up comedians (many of whom have been without work due to club closures amid the pandemic) to roast brands.
The idea is to help brands get harsh but valid insights about their products and image. The cost is $15,000 for each participating brand, which might seem high unless you've ever priced out a focus group.
Will brands take Humanaut up on this offer? Hopefully.
If you've ever worked on the social media side of brand marketing, you've likely seen that much of the feedback is too "negative" for execs to stomach. So analysts often skew reports toward the positive and dismiss the rest of the feedback as trolling.
That's incredibly shortsighted and amateurish, even if it's understandable (and I've totally done it). The reality is that if you want your business to be successful, you need to know what people are fed up with—or what they simply think is laughably inauthentic.
If you only want to hear what you want to hear, you're not a leader. You're just insecure.
What's your take on how brand executives should look at negative feedback, and what real-world experiences have you had on this front? Let me know at the email below or at @Griner on Twitter.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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