Concentrated Marketing

Concentrated Marketing, also known as niche marketing, is the strategy of going after a large share of a smaller segment. In a recent CNN article, a marketing and branding expert commented on the current late night feud and what Conan O'Brien needed to do to get the ratings necessary to be successful. It was suggested that Conan stick with the humor he used on The Late Night Show, and cater towards Generation X and Y (or as the book referred to them, "Millennials"). When O'Brien was moved to the Tonight Show in June, the executives at NBC forced him to dull down his comedy, because he would now be performing for an older audience that Jay Leno had established. By attempting a Undifferentiated marketing strategy, O'Brien lost parts of his old fan base and failed to retain fans of the old Tonight Show. This resulted in dropped ratings which lead NBC to pull the plus on O'Brien last week.

However, the final two weeks of O'Brien's Tonight Show, ratings show a huge jump. Part of this was from all the press over the feud, but also Conan returned to his old form of comedy as he no longer had to be the puppet for NBC. This is a real life demonstration that the power of Concentrated marketing can have over "mass-marketing". When Conan returns to the air this September, whether it be with Fox or Comedy Central, if he remembers to concentrate his comedy towards Generations X and Y, he will see a greater result than if he were to cater to all audiences.

-Troy Savisky, MKTG 301 G