You’d have to be living under a rock to not know about the recent drama between Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, and perhaps more importantly, NBC and its audience. This issue has polarized our nation to the point that many of my friends on Facebook now have pictures of Conan O’Brien as their default picture to show their support for him. (It’s actually kind of interesting… maybe a little sad… that this is how I now determine which side of an issue someone is on. I digress.) 

Regardless of which host you prefer, the fact that Leno has been selected to host the show has little to do with the real issue here. There are two “biggest losers” in this situation—one loses because it was not consulted before a decision was made, and the other loses because it did not do the consulting before a decision was made. 

Would it have been so hard, especially in this day and age, to check in with your viewers to determine who they’d like to see host the Tonight Show? In all seriousness, NBC hasn’t had the strongest audience share for some time, so it seems a little negligent to not even check in with those few who do still tune into your network. 

This brings up an important issue among people who are in the advertising, marketing and public relations professions. Your audience is still critical to the success of your campaign, and you’d be remiss to not test ideas with them before making ultimate decisions about the direction of your campaign. 

Doing a little research, even informal research, may seem like an easy step to skip at the beginning of a campaign, but I assure you, the best campaigns are borne of a study of your audience, your messaging and your delivery of those messages. Utilizing a research organization or communications agency makes a lot of sense (and cents) when you consider the money you save in the long-run not having to readjust campaigns that aren’t producing results.  (Ahem, NBC…)