Many times, when you're making something for mass consumption you're asked to aim for the lowest common denominator. There is an old vaudeville aphorism made famous by Groucho Marx that speaks to this, "Will it play in Peoria?" Which we are to take as, "Will this appeal to a mainstream (or, more pejoratively, an unsophisticated) audience?" Sorry Peoria. Vaudeville is cruel.

This is actually a misuse of the concept of the Greatest Common Factor (or Greatest Common Divisor). Because we're going to be using its real mathematical function as a metaphor, we're going to do our best to use it correctly.

The concept of the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) is often used to justify the approach of screaming and yelling and fear-mongering, and appealing to the primitive lizard part of our brains that think bodily functions are funny and girls in bikinis are nice to look at. That's not the Greatest Common Factor. That's the Lowest...or certainly a very low one.

The idea of the GCF comes from arithmetic, and the admittedly scary world of fractions. The point is to find the largest divisor that two numbers have in common and use that to simplify your interaction with them. When you're creating a message for your brand, you need to think the same way. Find the thing that lets you simplify the conversation with the largest portion of the people you're talking to. That's the Greatest Common Factor.

Think of the other thing, the LCF, as a small number, like 2. Sure, many numbers are divisible by 2 (roughly half, if my 1st grade math is up to snuff), so while 2 is often an effective option, it doesn't simplify the fraction much at all. So, while there are times when it is the lowest common denominator, there are lots of times when it leaves you to do a lot of really messy arithmetic.

The GCF approach is actually not an unreasonable approach if (and that's a big if) you're really paying attention to the audience you're talking to. That's because it's not about talking to the least sophisticated amongst your audience, it's about talking to the largest chunk of it. It's about the things they have in common.

Think of your message as a complicated fraction, say 60/96. It's an even number, so you know it's divisible by two. You could pick a small factor like 2. You could talk to everyone, but you'd be left with a pretty messy fraction (30/48). You notice that the number is also divisible by three, so you can still talk to the whole group, and you're left with a less messy, but still fairly gnarly fraction (20/32). But...if it's divisible by 2 and by 3, then it's divisible by six...and your fraction is starting to get less and less complicated (10/16). You're lucky. You got a fraction that's divisible by 12. Now your fraction looks nice and streamlined (5/8). Your message is simple and clear and compelling. You're talking clearly and concisely to the people that you're trying to reach.

The problem with 2 (and its sister, the bikini booth babe), while it's nice and low and is a common factor for half the numbers, is that it's NOT a common factor for the other half. If you can't, or don't, figure out if your audience is even or odd, you run the risk of alienating a huge chunk of the people who are listening to you.

Do yourself, your audience, and your brand a favor. Do the math.