Do you eat your own dogfood?

Do you eat your own dogfood? Do you sip your own champagne? Well Wikipedia has an article all about how companies and employees making products should eat or use those products they make. I think advertising agencies should do the same. I heard it explained, that like a Pelican dips down and gets a fish - not going underwater or not missing the fish (for not going low enough) - an advertiser should do the same. Don't get too far down into the water that your message becomes industry lingo and not understood, yet you have to know enough to fully understand what the product or service does. I think what Wikipedia is talking about "eating your own dogfood" is a great way to fully understand whatever it is you are marketing. This may seem so obvious, but you would be surprised at how common it is to forget or make excuses for not completing this step of the process. Whether your marketing a bank, insurance company, toothbrush, or lamp post - use it, try it, make it part of your everyday life for a period of time in order to understand your target, your client, and your unique selling factors that will make it a success or failure ... at least you will know what lies ahead.