Van Halen and media targeting.
First I will start by saying that Van Halen has nothing to do with media targeting. However this idea come to me while listening one of their songs.
The story begins with me having a small problem with my American Express card so I called their customer service to fix it. I have talked for a couple of minutes with some very nice guy there trying to help me and he needed to put me on hold to find out something from one of their department. And then it happened.
The “elevator music”, the dreadful “on hold – wait for us” music was actually a very nice surprise for me – Van Halen. I was literally blown away. This was the best experience ever I’ve had staying on hold on a phone.
And then I thought, I am a rock fan and that music was a perfect match for me. I could have stayed without problem half an hour at the phone listening to rock. What if everybody that is placed on hold on the phone could benefit from the same experience? What if the customer service from each company could benefit from having my profile and target me with a better selection of music?
I know that what happened to me was just pure luck (on my side) but it definitely created a positive impression on my side for the American Express company. Translate this to the thousands customer that call them each day and that can be quite beneficial for their business IF they could target even 50% of the calls and provide the right music.
