Early on in this blog I mentioned that one of my clients is a large lawn equipment company (see post entitled Accents are Funny).  During a recent project our task was to understand how consumers describe the benefits of these features in order to help my client and their agency understand whether or not they are focusing on the right selling points in sales materials.
One of the features in question was a foldable handle on a walk-behind lawnmower.  I asked everyone what they thought the core benefits were and then turned to one respondent who, shall we say, had a certain “zest for living.”  And by zest I mean that he was most likely trying to prevent glaucoma just minutes before entering my session. I am pretty sure my client was not expecting the following exchange.
Me: “We have not heard from you yet Jerry Garcia (named change to protect the guilty). What are some of the benefits of a foldable handle on a walk-behind lawnmower?”
Jerry Garcia: “I love the foldable handle. After I am done cutting the lawn, I fold it up and hide it under my deck so the bums don’t steal it.”
I can’t wait to see if my client decided to include “theft prevention from hobos” on their updated sales materials.