When Marketing, Don’t Lose Touch with Those Childhood Ways

How many times have you caught yourself walking around the singing, “I’m the Map, I’m the Map, I’m the Map, I’m the Map” for hours on end after that morning’s episode of Dora the Explorer? That cheerful, repetitive voice can play over and over in your head, all day long. The next time you’re in the toy store, you’re going to look at Map and know not only who he is, but his theme song as well. And if you can make it through the day without singing, “Forest, mountain, little blue tree!” you’re stronger than I am.

That’s marketing that works.

Amazingly enough, that same catchy tune and repetitive theme works on adults too. There’s a reason kids learn faster than grown-ups do. Not only are their minds blank slates, absorbing everything around them without  any of the prejudices, back-stories or pre-conceived notions that adults bring to the table every time they learn something new, they also learn it the right way. In relation to their natural world, with constant repetition to reinforce the idea and create an actual neural pathway into their brain.

Adults learn like that too. Tell me you saw the State Farm Cars 2 commercial. It’s fantastic. Not only does it have fun, colorful characters that most of us know and remember (I have a Finn McMissile car taped to my dashboard as we speak), but every adult in America had to fight the urge to sing, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!” Why? Because constant repetition and a cheerful tune have burned the company’s catchphrase into our brains, and now? Now there’s no going back.

How does your marketing campaign use repetition and those childhood ways to reach your clientele?