This video is making the rounds. Everywhere, even internationally. You’ve probably seen it already: It’s been featured on almost every news and entertainment outlet imaginable and it’s getting millions of views on YouTube. The girl, Lauren Caitlin Upton, appeared on The Today Show yesterday.

Why was she on The Today Show? Did she win the Miss Teen USA pageant in which she was entered? (No, she finished fourth.) Did she donate an enormous sum of money to help feed starving kids in Africa or write a brilliant first novel?

No on all counts. She gave a rambling and incoherent answer to a painfully simple question.

The Miss Teen USA pageant is part of the Miss Universe Organization, which says that their contestants “are savvy, goal-oriented and aware. The contestants who become part of the Miss Universe Organization display those characteristics in their everyday lives, both as individuals who participate in the competitions to advance their careers, personal and humanitarian goals, and as women who seek to improve the lives of others.”

Joking about all this is easy, but those of us involved in developing marketing communications materials, especially those with a kid or teen focus, should be doing a double-take when a simple question to a “savvy, goal-oriented and aware” young woman meets with this kind of an answer.

In a world where marketers want to reach savvy and aware young customers, maybe one’s definition of “savvy and aware” needs to be recalibrated … along with the vocabulary and grammar level of one’s marketing materials.

Takeaway for marketers: If savvy and aware Americans can’t find the U.S. on a world map, how can you expect them to find your product in a crowded retail aisle?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways, This 'n' That.