Hamburgers and Hamsters

A few years before I retired from Big Industry, an enlightened Division Manager decided that all his executives, including Principal Engineers, needed to learn about marketing.  He enrolled us in a ten week Executive Marketing Course at an unnamed university** in Los Angeles where we learned how to do market research and and conduct advertising campaigns.  I got to participate in a focus group, testing the market for electronic tire pressure monitors among Harley Davidson owners.  I learned how to design advertising for different market segments and I learned about target demographics.   It was all very interesting … and a great deal of fun … but since we only dealt with the Department of Defense, which told us exactly what they wanted in specifications, it was pretty useless information.  Sometimes, though, it all comes back when I watch the advertisements that make it to TV.