Twitter shared a hashtag trend of #CheesyMovies this morning, which makes one think- what exactly makes a movie ‘cheesy’ (besides substituting a cheese in the title)? One vote – extremely bad acting with such a shallow plot that it actually becomes disturbingly humorous.
Despite some variance in the definition, several people actually claim cheesy movies to be some of their favorites.
Which brings about the question, does being a fan of cheesy movies say something about who these people are??
Turns out, it’s probably not whether a movie is ‘cheesy’ that reveals someone’s personality traits. But rather, it’s the type of hero the person identifies with on the big screen and the overall themes of their favorite movies that reveal some unique characteristics about who they are.
You Are Your Favorite Movie Heroes
Much has been written on the topic of favorite movies and personalities, including the book Cinescopes: What Your Favorite Movies Reveal About You. In this book, the authors identified 16 movie-based personality styles based on the types of heroes people responded to most, as well as the various movie themes that resonated with them best. Some of these styles include Dedicated Idealist, Charismatic Performer, Chosen Adventurer, and Invincible Optimist.
And movies aren’t the only identifiers for personality. Favorite books – whether murder mysteries, love stories, or dramas- can also reveal unique personality traits. And the type of music you’re into (reflective, intense, upbeat, rhythmic) correlates with specific personality traits like extroversion, agreeableness, and openness to new experiences- and can even identify specific demographics, like political views and wealth.
Even your favorite color is said to be an instinctual choice that reflects your emotions, behaviors, character traits and more.
Interests, Personality and #Marketing101
So how does all of this play into Marketing? It’s obvious that paying attention to your audiences’ interests is smart when it comes to planning a Marketing campaign. You might want to place ads in unique places based on different segments who have opposite interests.
And gaining a good understanding of your audiences’ various personality traits is important, too. Extroverted Adventurers are going to respond to an ad campaign completely different than Introverted Romantics. You have to learn what really makes each segment ‘tick’ to be able to reach them.
Rely on both interest and personality data interchangeably to create truly targeted campaigns that will speak to the right audience in the right way. With the excess of public customer data available online today- via social networks, blogs, reviews and recommendations, etc- all it takes are some innovative tools to really dig in to that data to help you build unique brand Personas based on your audience’s interests, personalities, demographics, and more.
Nothing cheesy about that.