Years ago, New York City decided to redesign all of its street crossing curbs so they were flat. The intended audience was people who used wheelchairs. The assumption was that the flat curbs would help them cross the streets easily and safely. While that was true, city officials were surprised to learn that people who used baby strollers, as well as ones who used skateboards and rollerblades, were also fans of the flat curbs (see Figure 2.1).

FIGURE 2.1 A flat curb in front of a New York City crossing.

Play-Doh, the modeling clay used by young children for arts and crafts projects (see Figure 2.2) was not originally intended for children when it was first introduced to the market in the 1930s. Kutol Products, a soap manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio, targeted it at people who wanted to remove coal residue from wallpaper. Only after a classroom of children in Cincinnati started using it as a modeling compound (20 years later) did the manufacturer realize its true audience was completely different. Long story short, in 2003 Play-Doh was included in the Toy Industry Association’s list of toys of the century.

FIGURE 2.2 Play-Doh.

One of the hardest things to know in product development is who your target audience is. Product developers might come up with a very specific target audience only to find out that a completely different audience is finding value in their product, which is a good thing. Or, even more surprising, they might discover that their actual audience is very different than the intended one.

Подняться наверх