Skip to main content

Emperor hath no clothes

Once again I was reminded of the power of coercive marketing when my 9 year old pointed to racks of the new shorts at the local retailer. It was stocking time for clothing and one item that this old fogey failed to comprehend was the new shorts. I mean they are called Short Shorts. You see you are trying to distinguish between the really short shorts vs. the long shorts that stretch somewhere till the knee / calf vs. the capris that hover between the calf and an unknown portion of the human leg. All this to cover varying degrees of the rear limbs. Yet they all have a place in the so called niche markets they sell. It is like when I first encountered the Diet, Zero Caffiene Cola. I mean at that point it was gas sold in a can..you know no nothing but fizz. People will pay premium for it. At the same time they can be confused by putting too many choices on the shelves too and some retailers choose a different tactic by taking the brand and type decision out of the consumers hand by limiting their SKU (stock keeping units) to a minimum. Costco warehouse locations are an example of this. They however convince the buyer that buying an industrial size ketchup and vinegar container is somehow going to save them money. I am guessing that all those of our species that shop these type of product are also members of the local health club. I mean you do need muscle to manuever a glob of ketchup on your next sandwich from a 8 lb bottle or to get toothpaste out of a tube resembling a baseball bat. Well I exaggerate but you get the point. If only I can come up with something that the masses might like. Or a niche.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more

You are important to us

Followed by piano music.   Followed by 'we are experiencing heavier than usual call volume'.  Sounds macabre like bleeding during menstruation or after a ghastly attack with a weapon on a hemophiliac.  Sorry Mrs. Johnson but it appears little Gertrude here has been bleeding heavier than usual what with her night time activities competing with the woodchucks in your neighborhood. Some services even go as far as to pick a random day to say - 'if you were to call us during the Chinese lunar month when the moon is axiomatically hugging the polar star with Jupiter intravenous when call volume is light'.  Well I will be damned.  I thought  I had checked with my astrologer before I placed this well focused call but  I guess this is what you get for listening to a quack. Umph! I am not sure which marketing genius came up with this personal touch concept of informing the caller that you are really a jackass for actually calling the customer serv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more