Marketing by Watching

8pm. Saturday.

I’m watching people move through the second largest mall in the world, and something is clicking that every marketer needs to understand right now.

Here’s what I’m seeing: Real people. Unfiltered moments. Hoodies with actual wear. Faces that haven’t been prepared for content. Conversations happening mid-stride. Decisions being made in real-time. And in all of this realness, there’s something magnetic happening that no focus group or analytics dashboard could ever capture.

This is where marketing has lost its way. We’ve stopped observing our masses. We’ve stopped watching how people actually move through the world, what they’re drawn to, what makes them pause, what makes them connect. Instead, we’re buried in data points and demographic reports that tell us everything except what actually matters.

The world is shifting, and if you’re not watching, you’re missing it. People are desperate to hang on to something they believe in. Something they can connect with. Something that’s 100% real.

Not performative. Not curated to look authentic while being completely constructed. Just real.

For restaurants, whether you’re running casual dining or QSRs, this observation changes everything. Because when you actually watch people, you see what they respond to. You see what breaks through the noise.

When you watch, you see that people connect with the 6am prep. Not because it’s pretty, but because it’s true. The cook with flour on their face, three hours deep into the work, that’s belief. That’s commitment. That’s something to hang on to.

You see that your actual customers tell better stories than any model you could cast. The mom with two kids who just needs something easy isn’t a demographic, she’s a person navigating real life. The construction worker grabbing lunch isn’t a target market, he’s someone who values what you’re serving. When you show them, really show them, people see themselves. And that’s the connection.

You notice that food doesn’t need to be art to be appealing. It needs to look like what it is—steam rising, hands reaching, imperfect cheese pulls, sauce that maybe dripped. Because that’s what people recognize. That’s what they believe exists when they walk through your doors.

You understand that the activity matters. The Saturday rush. The organized chaos of a working kitchen. The stack of tickets. The team moving with purpose. People want to see businesses that are actively, visibly working. Not showrooms. Not stages. Real operations they can believe in.

We’re living in the most filtered, most curated, most optimized moment in human history. Every photo is edited. Every moment is staged. Every story is A/B tested.

And people are searching for something to believe in.

When you actually observe your masses, the people walking through malls at 8pm on a Saturday, the ones scrolling past your ads, the ones deciding where to eat you see this hunger for connection. This need for something real. This desire to hang on to brands that show up as they actually are.

The restaurants that win won’t have the most polished ads. They’ll have the most honest ones. They’ll be the ones brave enough to show real kitchens, real people, real moments. They’ll give people something genuine to connect with and believe in.

Most marketing today is created in conference rooms, approved in boardrooms, and launched without anyone ever watching how real people actually live. We rely on data that tells us what people clicked, but not why. What they bought, but not what they believed in. What performed well, but not what connected deeply.

The shift happening right now demands that we get back to observation. That we watch our masses. That we understand what they’re reaching for, what they’re holding on to, what makes them stop and say “yes, that’s real.”

While agencies perfect their lighting and polish their productions, there’s a massive opportunity to lead with truth. To build campaigns that aren’t about aspiration but about recognition. To show people not who they wish they were, but who they actually are.

Document instead of creating. Capture instead of constructing. Show instead of telling.

The people in this mall right now moving through their Saturday evening, carrying shopping bags, checking their phones, deciding where to eat they’re looking for brands that see them. Really see them. Brands that give them something real to connect with and hang on to.

Marketing used to be about convincing people to want something different. Now it’s about showing people you understand them as they are.

Observe your customers. Watch how they move, what they respond to, what makes them believe. Then show them that reality back. Show them your real kitchen, your real people, your real food, your real work.

The shift to authenticity isn’t theoretical. It’s happening in every mall, on every scroll, at every decision point where someone chooses what to believe in.

We need to hang on to what’s real. Give people something genuine to connect with. And it starts with actually watching.

Observations from WEM, 8pm Saturday, where watching people reveals more about marketing than any report ever could.