Advertisers keep using data the wrong way. Here’s how “sei-katsu-sha” gets it right.

It’s often said that advertising is like ligawan–we court consumers’ attention in the same way we court our partners. We spend 90% of our time trying to understand what they want and what motivates them. This, ideally, helps us discover the best way to get them to like the brands we work with.

But have we ever stopped to consider that this is just creepy?

Think about it: Advertising these days is driven primarily by user-generated data. We eavesdrop on their chats, study their location data to find out where they are at specific times of day, and track their movement between websites, hoping to discover a pattern we can then spin into advertising gold. We seed our messages into the mouths of their favorite influencers, knowing that consumers will listen if they’re delivered by someone they trust.

That’s basically stalking, isn’t it?

But this is what naturally happens when we use data in the wrong way. By relying solely on all these facts and figures, we end up reducing the average consumer to a faceless pattern that we work to our advantage. 

If advertising is ligawan, then what most of us are doing is simply making the market think they love our brands, without actually loving them. We’re stalkers who manipulate feelings rather than actually win people over. And consumers aren’t dumb–you do this to them for long enough, and they’ll get wise to you. They’ll start distrusting you.

Unless, of course, you use sei-katsu-sha as your guiding principle.

What is sei-katsu-sha, anyway?

Sei-katsu-sha is a Japanese term that loosely translates to “living person”, and is at the heart of how advertising agencies like Hakuhodo and IXM approach the market. The principle challenges us to treat our audiences as real, genuine people rather than mindless consumers. This means going beyond knowing what their wants and motivations are, and learning the Whys, Hows, and Ifs behind them.

Unlike other advertising models, sei-katsu-sha doesn’t reduce people to piles of data; rather, it understands that all this data is a by-product of living.

Let’s pretend we’re courting Dani, a 24-year-old cisgender straight female with a monthly income of 45,000 pesos. She likes flowers, frequents this quaint little Italian restaurant in BF Homes, and reads a lot of sci-fi. 

We might be tempted to take all this information at surface value, and buy her a giant bouquet of roses, treat her to a nice dinner at the Italian restaurant, and end the date by marathoning the latest season of Mandalorian at home. Dani will enjoy herself, but it’s not going to be anything more special than a checklist of things she likes. Over time, she’s just going to get bored with us.

But if we apply sei-katsu-sha to the situation and treat Dani as more than just the sum of these facts about her, we might be able to give her an unforgettable evening. Maybe the Why of her love of flowers comes from childhood memories of her mother’s garden. We might learn that she likes the Italian restaurant because of How they plate their dishes. And we could even find out that she’d probably appreciate Battlestar Galactica more than Star Wars, If only she knew more about it.

Understanding the person that Dani is opens up a multiverse of possibilities on how to make her happy. We could take her for a walk through Sonya’s Garden, bring her to a new restaurant with wonderfully creative plating, or introduce her to the Battlestar Galactica fandom. That would be an unforgettable evening.

By seeing Dani for who she is rather than just her data, we can create lasting new memories and forge a real connection with her.

But isn’t that still the same thing, just with more data?

While it’s true that everything we’ve just discussed can be reduced to just a wealth of extra data points, the difference that sei-katsu-sha creates is all about intent. Unlike other advertising models, sei-katsu-sha doesn’t reduce people to piles of data; rather, it understands that all this data is a by-product of living.

People don’t chat on social media to generate keyword clouds of the things they like; they do it to connect with each other. They don’t add to a post’s Likes, Hearts, and other reactions to tell us which content is popular; they react because the content made them feel a certain way. They aren’t sharing pics of their food as a homing beacon to advertisers, yelling “Find me at this resto!”; they just really like what they’re eating.

Whatever data we can collect from all these activities is incidental; they are not who our audience is. They are real, living people. That’s what matters most. That’s what advertisers should be focused on. That is what sei-katsu-sha is all about.

So who is your audience, really?