In Focus

This past Thursday I was asked to participate in a focus group. They selected people who are pretty certain that they are going to move out of NYC in the next year or so. I have always wondered what focus groups were like and always wanted to be a fly on the wall during one. Well, my friend Ruth hooked me up with this group. I keep forgetting to ask Ruth how she knew about it in the first place. The group actually was Philadelphia specific. They really wanted people who were considering moving to Philly. I have a friend who is moving to Philly this summer, so I was able to get her into the group as well. The client was the Philadelphia tourist board, and they are looking to lure people away from NYC to live in Philly.

It was FASCINATING! Okay, the questions were pretty simple, but what was interesting were my fellow participants. How DID they find some of these people? One guy interested Reiko and me the most. He spoke a lot, but it was really hard to understand what point he was getting at. He was interested in moving to Philly because there was an MTV episode of The Real World that took place there. Yikes! I'm sure some of these people vote also!

At the end of the 2 hour session, we each picked up an envelope with $125 in cash and went our separate ways. How funny. I'm also selling stuff on Ebay if that doesn't cement my status as white trash.