Many of us at Plexipixel have fond memories of watching Sesame Street, sitting in our pajamas, juice in hand, ready to sing along about the alphabet and what’s different and the same. Even today we still sing the silly songs and have a favorite Muppet character. But watching those shows instilled some very important values that we carry with us in our business, and not just because we’re special just the way we are!

Photo Credit Sesame Street

Sesame Street taught us the following lessons:

1)  Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

On Sesame Street, Bob sang praise about the people in his neighborhood. You should too. Get to know your neighbors, a.k.a. your customers, clients, and community. Know who your audience is: who do you want to be friends with? Who are you trying to influence with your message?

Sesame Street understood this when designing their programming. In its earlier days, the show was accused of being a series of advertisements rather than a children’s television show. But the show was designed to engage their target audience and capture their undue attention. And it worked!

Reagan Alexander’s article (http://www.tonic.com/article/twitter-me-elmo-sesame-street-schools-social-media/) about Sesame Street’s social media strategy outlines their focus on the customer:

“A lot of companies feel a pressure to be a part of this without knowing why," Miles Ludwig, Sesame Workshop's Vice-President of Digital and Interactive Media tells Tonic. "They're being very reactive in the way that they're just kind of jumping in rather than stopping to think about who their audience is." One of the keys to Sesame Street's success is knowing how to appeal to their disparate but overlapping audiences.

2)  Keep Learning

Sesame Street is all about learning new things. Whether it’s a new food or a new game, Muppets are always up for trying something new. Some of the younger ones might get a little scared or confused, but they still try it.

Sesame Street continues to be innovative, adopting social media avenues such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to reach out to families and get them learning through different avenues. Here at Plexipixel we keep learning too. While the Muppets wrestle with the alphabet and learning Spanish, we are learning Typekit and HTML5 to create even better sites and games. 

3)  Be Committed

Everyone on Sesame Street tries their best and gives their all. Jim Henson once reflected on this philosophy. “I think much of the world has the wrong idea of working. It’s one of the good things in life. The feeling of accomplishment is more real and satisfying than finishing a good meal – or looking at one’s accumulated wealth.”

4)  Relationships Trump Flashiness

Sesame Street doesn’t speak down to kids, it speaks directly to them on their level, treating them as equals in the learning process. Sesame Street taught us about cooperation, kindness, and clear communication. We learned about reliability, and speaking directly to the user.

Jim Henson said, “I think it’s a sense of innocence, naïveté – you know, the experience of a simple person meeting life…And it’s that innocence that I think is the connection to the audience.”

5)  Be Consistent in Who You Are and What People Should Expect From You

Everyone on Sesame Street knew that Oscar was a grouch, and Bert liked boring things like oatmeal and paperclips. Kermit famously sang about how being green wasn’t easy, but it’ll do fine, and it’s what he wanted to be. After 40 plus years*, those characters are still the same.

We are clear and direct about who we are and what we can offer. Like Big Bird, we ask the seemingly obvious questions, which lead to surprisingly perceptive insights.

6)  Have Fun!

Sesame Street is great at taking everyday things and putting a new spin on them, like Grover’s “On” campaign (based on the Old Spice ads: (http://www.fastmediamagazine.com/blog/2010/10/12/sesame-street-does-old-spice/).

We here at Plexipixel try not to take ourselves too seriously. Our motto is Sticky Brand Play, which provides our clients with valuable, engaging experiences that make them excited to come back for more.

We’re happy to think that the Sesame Street experience rubbed off on us a little bit!

*Longer for Kermit, but who’s counting. Check out the Muppets pre-Sesame Street working for IBM: http://technologizer.com/2010/05/31/ibm-muppets/

Jim Henson quotes from: “It’s Not Easy Being Green, and Other Things to Consider,” Hyperion, NY (2005).