Being relevant is overrated

Brands won't ever become big by only providing "highly relevant" digital marketing. 

This week in the WSJ, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said, "People consistently tell us that if they’re going to see ads, they want them to be relevant." 

Kinda? But kinda not.

Yes, people will always claim they want "relevant" ads "tailored" to them. And sure, if you don't own a horse, saddle ads aren't so great. 

But I also don't want to be deluged with ads for socks & razors & puffy jackets & olive oil. It's relevant, but it's at best boring and at worst creepy.

Here's the problem: part of me DOESN'T KNOW WHAT I WANT. So I want to know what EVERYONE ELSE wants. Because maybe I want in on that too. 

And that's where 1:1, personalized, hyper-targeted, "relevant" marketing breaks down. We're social creatures. We want to know what others like. We want to know what THE GROUP likes. And that takes mass media that builds a shared, common understanding about what's "relevant" to us (and thus me).

Mark Zuckerberg. The facts about facebook. 1.24.2019. Wall Street Journal