When you don't know your target customer

The front page of ESPN.com assaulted me today with a half-page ad proclaiming, "Vin Diesel - Not Your Typical Soccer Mom". It's an ad for the apparently abysmal Disney schtick, The Pacifier. It then occurs to me - on the front page of THE premiere sports web site, they're pushing a Disney live-action comedy, presumably about some tough-guy having a hard time being a dad. And which visitors of ESPN.com care a shred about soccer moms? They have absolutely no clue who they think will go see this movie. That should be step 1, before the casting begins, before you put Vin Diesel, the consummate tough guy, into a movie that NONE of the people who really enjoyed him in "Pitch Black" or "The Fast and the Furious" would EVER want to see. Figure out who the audience is. They're hoping families will go see it, but are probably nervous that Diesel's tough guy image will drive them away, and the plot line of a secret service agent as a dad is tough to sell to kids without children for them to relate to (witness Spy Kids). So what do you do? Co-opt the power of the Disney-ABC-ESPN empire, and ram the message down the throats of a demographic who is least likely to see the movie.

First problem? Bad product. The big problem? They're still convinced that ubiquity is a viable substitute for proper targeting of an ad and a compelling product. They still don't understand that if someone doesn't care what you have to say at a normal volume, in a private place, following them around and yelling at them doesn't do much more than make them hate you.