Miracle Shoes and Freezing Poop at 30,000 Feet

My recent airline flight reminded me how surreal the SkyMall magazine can be. I used to be a cross-continent commuter, but its been years since I travelled for a living. But SkyMall is as weird as ever.

It does provide an interesting lesson, however. In these days of hyper-targeted advertising, recommendation systems, and market segmentation, its important to consider your market’s situational milieu when crafting a sales strategy. The airline passenger is an interesting group that defies most demographic profiles. So the SkyMall shouldn’t resemble anything like the advertising in the Atlantic, TNT Network, or drive-time radio. It is the perfect marketing vehicle to target an audience whose only defining characteristic is their common captivity.

Consider the Gravity Defyer Shoe. The ad copy reads like something out of the 1800s:

And I had to laugh wondering if any of my fellow passengers would be interested in marshmallow guns, self-winding watch boxes or mini-beer taps. Occasionally a page turn revealed something completely unnecessary but . . . well . . . The reality was that the remnants of my once-massive LP collection belong on eBay, not playing on a USB TurnTable.

Then, on page 147, just past the Dreamsack sleeping bag and just before the every-piece-has-an-edge brownie pan, I saw IT. Some products are quintessentially American. The iPhone. The Spray-On Hair. And now:

Yes its real. Its not a fake product out of the brilliant SkyMaul parody. And I knew, somewhere over America, a passenger someplace was folding over this very page, ready to order a case of this brilliant invention as soon as they landed.

As we flew into the evening I returned to the thought - for a few hours I belonged to a market that purchased Garden Yetis, subscriptions to business book summaries, and cans of Poop-Freeze. Timing is everything.