A campaign here in Toronto caught my eye recently. Metro, the free pick-up newspaper, are trying to promote their paper on the basis of it’s ‘sharability’. Presumably attempting to counteract the now well-established phenomena of people sharing news content online via their social networks. You can almost see the chain of events here.

- Research to see why people prefer consuming news content on tablets and smartphones on their commute rather than print.
- Research shows the ability to share news is a key driver.
- Marketing department confuse digital sharing in a closed network of social media contacts with sharing your used paper with a stranger.
- Hence the campaign below is born.

Of course the moral of the story is that even the best insight in the world is damaging if in the wrong hands. Use market research in context and never follow it blindly. It’s s guide to finding the answer, not *the* answer.

And the best thing about it? These ads are running on the TTC, frequently adjacent to this ad which, if adhered to, rather screws up the sharing idea!