Reaching Audiences

In my opinion, to label an individual or a group as, "hard to reach," is conceding to failure.  I think it is the researchers responsibility to look at so called "hard to reach" groups as an opportunity for a challenge to come up with innovative campaign strategies.  The alternative conceptualizations to approaching the issue was stated in the article as, "different not deficient" when looking at these "hard to reach" groups.  It is the researchers job to empathize with the perspectives of the target audience to understand their fears and needs. In order to reach these groups, one needs to study how people process information and find the best communication channel to go through.  The video we watch in class provided an example of having a customer centered focus in their marketing strategies.  They looked at trendsetting teenagers to learn about what kind of styles and 'cool' things they are interested in.  The companies like Sprite, would then market their findings and reach their target audience successfully.  The challenge with the teenage population is what's considered cool today will be gone tomorrow, so researchers need to adapt to the ever-changing trends.  These "culture spies" demonstrate that communication is a reciprocal process between the sender and the receiver, as successful communication persists through an ongoing dialogue between the two.