When Interruptions work

When a brawl starts, people crane to catch it. Leaving for some time what they were focused on. In this case it was the Djokovic-Petzschner match at the US open. Tell you what, for those moments even the players looked up to see what was going on.

Its one of those rare cases where an interruption works in drawing away attention. Seth Godin's always talked about how interruption marketing doesn't work. My bet is, it does, and needs to, at certain times. When consumers come into a store and exhibit purchase choices made out of 'inertia', should you want to interrupt their 'focused' purchase pattern which is to go to 'familiar' brands, you need interruptions. The kind the 'brawl' provided. Of course, I ain't asking for a fight in the store, I am asking for merchandising material that interrupts consumer inertia. Maybe its a colourful kiosk proclaiming a superb promo for a new brand in the store. My bet is, there's a strong probability the consumer interrupts his journey to the shelf, walks over, picks the new brand, maybe even tries it.

The caveat is, interruptions don't work most of the time. But it surely works at a time when the consumer is on a consumption 'journey' within the store. Smart marketers capitalise on it to present a new brand to consumers.

I don't think there were many who weren't entertained by that brief US Open brawl. The only guys complaining may be have been the players. After all, that's big enough a distraction. But what can I say, even I couldn't suppress a smile when I saw the video.

Take a look (video above), and decide for yourself.