Marketing To Me?

I've been paying attention to the ads. The sales. The flyers. The commercials. The posters. The radio spots. The store item repositioning. All of it.

Father's Day.

It's next weekend.

And, what I'm learning is that they don't seem to be marketing to me.

For example, Toys R Us says it has "GREAT GIFTS FOR DAD!" Those include a Wii, PS3 or XBox360. Maybe a Portable Navigation System. I'm okay with video games. I simply don't get into them that much or have time for them...unless it's NCAA Football and I'm checking out the Southeastern Conference. I got into that for a while, but at a certain point you can beat the computer pretty much every time. After that, I don't play many video games. Well, none. And, while I've heard (and even seen a bit) that the Wii is fun, you're $300 in on a Father's Day gift. Who does that? And that's even if you can find it. But even if I had it, I'd imagine I'd get tired of it reasonably quickly.

Kohl's is firing up all sorts of dress shirts and something called neckwear (what we used to call a tie) and it looks like khaki threw up all over their Sunday insert.

Now, Best Buy...oh, wait. More gaming systems. And GPS deals. But they've added laptops and HDTV's to the mix. They do have a remote control for everything you own that goes for over $200. And, they can bluetooth me 'til the cows come home.

And, Target. More or less the same as Best Buy...but they've got the Sony PSP (handheld video game, for the uninitiated) that comes with a copy of the aptly-named movie Superbad and a game called God of War, which I hope isn't aptly-named. They do have reasonably priced tool sets.

I could go on.

My reality is that none of those things appeal much to me.

Their reality is that few folks advertise the books I like to read, or the music I like to listen to, or carry the movies I like to watch, or keep in stock the t-shirts with funny or thoughtful stuff put on the front. This is why the Internet was a great invention.

I'm just curious is all. About how marketing folks think about us dads.

I mean, when it comes down to it, we love our families, provide for them and enjoy simple things in life. Sure, gadgets are fun and all...but when it comes down to it, a GPS and some Dockers/matching neckwear or HD doesn't appeal to or define many of the fathers I run with. Most of us are thrilled with the love & respect of our wives and equally indicative hugs from our children.

But, there's no cash to be made from that. And if you're in retail you're in it to make money. So you have to market your stuff. I get it. I truly do. Even if the marketing doesn't fit me at all.