Life hacking in Berlin
it is all about “personas”. but we ended up sharing 520ml of Hokey Pokey ice cream wearing N95 masks… without queuing!
Prenzauler Berg is a neighborhood in the north-east of Berlin. you realise to be there when 60% of the people surrounding you are pushing a stroller, 30% is talking about their last VC funding round, and 40% wears a Jewish kippah. in case you are wondering, yes! you can talk about VC fundraising while pushing a stroller or wearing a kippah.
it is an area that went through the typical cycle “decadence → hipster magnet → gentrification”: once the area lost its economic purpose, the abandoned spaces attracted hipsters and stimulated artistic expressions, which revitalized the area. characterized for the most part by old buildings still dating back to before world war II, it has all what it takes to be the trendy spot: abandoned brewery, brick style terrace, street art installations…
heads-up: if you move there with your girl/boyfriend expect them to soon ask for a dog, next is a kid.
here is one of the epicenters of the European start-up bubble. who lives and works here, after a long time finds the need to change air so as to not completely lose touch with the real world.
after two long months of quarantine it is the best place to crash in a beer garden. as we walked into a big yard where usually our specie gather, one of us wondered, “imagine if there were gardens like this, where people gathers to trip on mushrooms instead of sipping beers” (what a wonderful world it would be).
start-up’s pitch deck often refers to target “personas” in their business model. it stands for a fictional individual profile that represents a collection of characteristics of a certain target segment. the important part is to make the persona as realist as possible.
e.g., your solo version of organised extreme sport holidays targets Amanda, single, 25 years old, lives in Paris, practices yoga every day, works in retail, loves climbing and travelling alone, has about 2,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. she will be promoting her holiday with “Adventure Addicted” before, during and after the trip. she will also buy 150€ of company merch which she will wear during her yoga sessions. spoiler: Amanda does not exist but represents 30% of your target customers. Paul, Caroline, and Chris represent the other 70%.
Google says the concept was first introduced in the 90s by the “father of Visual Basic”, Alan Cooper. but it has been now largely adopted by numerous commercially successful companies. when I used to work at Procter & Gamble, we targeted July, mother of 3, worried for their health, price conscious, part-time worker, and full-time housekeeper. or Anne, 30 years old, manager at multinational company, often on the move, purchasing criteria number one: convenience. or Robert, in his 60s, about to retire, 5 nephews and nieces, loves tradition and still remembers first Gillette Sensor promo video “The Best a Man Can Get” (which Gillette still tries to detach from because of its misogynous message, just making it even worse 🤦♂️).
this approach works, P&G has been the market leader in FMCG for decades, one of the most competitive industries for sales strategy.
but why did personas come to my mind while walking in a (phase 1) post-quarantine weekend in Prenzauler Berg (also called the “MILF mountain” for the reason above)? because Hokey Pokey showed a clear understanding of the personas it targets by opening two different stores, 10 meters from each other:
- Eispatisserie Hokey Pokey: it targets Thomas, 24, from Friday to Sunday you can find him at Sisyphos, typical Berlinese pretty laid back, for him waiting in line for 40 minutes for an ice-cream sundae makes it just more worthy.
- Hokey Pokey Boutique: targets Katie, lives with 3 flatmates, she strongly believes Carole Baskin killed her husband but Joe deserves to be in prison (if you do not know what I am referring to, you got to catch up with Tiger King). she is vegetarian and 3 out of 4 lunches she eats a poke bowl. for her buying a product is an ethical choice.
after 1 hour stroll for Prenzauler Berg we also faced an ethical choice: (i) wait in line to enjoy the renowned Hokey Pokey ice-cream, or (ii) get our sundae from the classic free-rider store in front of a popular locations, selling clearly lower quality ice-cream but with no line.
the idea of using the “Italian queue” did not meet the Austrian and Swiss consensus of my fellows. but as true startuppers we did not give up in front of such as silly blocker. we jumped to the Boutique and agreed to share a family size bowl of Banana Dulce de Leche (caramelized banana in brown sugar, corrected with rum, finished with brownie pieces and dulce de leche 🤯). in-and-out in 2 minutes 🤙
quality score: 6.5, category “gelato”. it is hard to find good gelato abroad, if it had competed in the “ice-cream” category it would have been a 9.
this is it! still not sure if I spelled Prenzauler Berg correctly at least once — my German is still quite rough
