I don’t get it? Many marketing presentations look like this scene from the movie Big. The presentation focuses on what toy sales can do for the company, not what the toy does for kids!
Here’s the scene:
The Scene That Still Resonates
In the 1988 film “Big,” a pivotal scene continues to offer valuable marketing lessons more than three decades later. Tom Hanks plays Josh Baskin, a 12-year-old boy trapped in an adult’s body who accidentally lands a job at a toy company. During a marketing presentation for a new building toy that transforms from a skyscraper to a robot, Josh speaks up with childlike honesty: “I don’t get it.”
When pressed by executives, Josh explains what every child instinctively knows: “It’s not fun.” While the executives are focused on production costs, profit margins, and retail placement, Josh reminds them of something fundamental they’ve forgotten: toys should be fun for children.
The Marketing Disconnect
This scene brilliantly illustrates a common disconnect in marketing presentations across industries:
- Presenters focus on internal metrics: sales projections, market share, and quarterly growth
- The product’s actual value to the end user becomes secondary or forgotten entirely
- Complex features and specifications replace simple benefits and joy
- The company talks to itself rather than to its customers
How many times have we sat through presentations filled with impressive charts, growth projections, and competitive analyses that never once address whether the customer will care about what’s being offered?
Josh’s Simple Marketing Wisdom
In the film, Josh’s innocent observation leads to a product redesign that becomes wildly successful. His approach can be distilled into a few timeless principles:
- Start with the customer experience, not your business goals
- Speak in simple, honest language about your product
- Remember the emotional connection users have with products
- Test with actual users (not just executives)
- Question assumptions that everyone else takes for granted
Bringing “Big” Energy to Your Marketing
How can we channel Josh’s perspective in our own marketing efforts?
- Ask the uncomfortable questions: Create space for team members to voice concerns without fear. Sometimes the most valuable insight starts with “I don’t get it.”
- Simplify your value proposition: If you can’t explain your product’s benefit in one sentence that a 12-year-old would understand, keep refining.
- Test with real users early and often: Don’t wait until you’ve invested heavily in development to discover customers don’t care about your product.
- Watch for enthusiasm gaps: Something is wrong when customer excitement doesn’t match internal excitement.
- Remember the joy: Whatever your product or service, there should be some element that delights your customers—find it and emphasize it.
Bottom line: As Josh puts it in the film, “There wouldn’t be any money because no one would buy it.” This fundamental truth is often overlooked in marketing presentations. We become so focused on what the product will do for our company that we forget what it will do for our customers.
The next time you prepare a marketing presentation, channel your inner Josh Baskin. Look at your product with fresh eyes and ask, “But is it fun?” Or more broadly: “Does this matter to our customers?”
Because there won’t be any money if the customer doesn’t care.
What marketing presentations have you sat through that missed the mark by focusing too much on company benefits rather than customer value? Share your experiences in the comments below.
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