Cool T-shirts

I love this simple post from Seth Godin. It basically asks you whether you and/or your clients would buy t-shirts with your company logo on it. if the answer's 'no', then you might work on it - and re-make your company cool again.

Taking about cool t-shirts, I have been quite impressed with that website. Very neat site, cool concept, cool t-shirts, and cool 'boss' - I recommend you to read his blog.

Marketing Mix... Think again!

In the middle of Cotentin (somewhere in Normandy where I am from), there's a little shop called - la maison du biscuit - selling biscuits. Not industrial ones, but real authentic home-made biscuits. And they make the best biscuits I ever had.

Every month, thousands of biscuit-lovers come to the shop. You even have coaches next to the shop, and people must wait outside, queuing!

Now, thinking of the 4Ps I have been taught in business school (product, place, promotion, price):

The shop is located in "Sortosville en Beaumont" (believe me, it's not central)
They do not do any promotion/advertising (at least, traditionnal)
They do not sell thousands of different products (but only a very good few)
They are not selling cheaper than other shops (actually slightly more expensive)

I hope they've stopped talking about the marketing mix and the 4ps in business school. All successes I have seen in the last few years (be it online or offline) have been telling me a total different story.

Silence...

I discovered, not so long time ago, the main reason I enjoy being home: that is one of the rare place I can hear..silence.

Would a "Silence Coffee" work?

Basically, that would be a coffee shop for people in need for silence (below 20 decibels). Pure silence. Not even slow/classical music. No, nothing else but silence.

If there were such coffee shop near my office, I would certainly go there once a day.

0.0001% or less

We've read it everywhere and experienced it in the airports: The new airport carry-on regulation (Liquids, gels and aerosols must be in three-ounce or smaller containers and in a one-quart, zip-top bag - otherwise, I don't go through) is affecting all business travelers and tourists:

We're all suspects and, in a way, we need to prove we are 'good' and 'docile' people.

We must leave from home an hour ealier than before as we might get stuck at the check-point and miss our plane.

We undress, put our stuffs into trays, queue, pass the electronic gate, retrieve our stuffs, and get dressed again.

Millions of passengers are affected everyday because of (maybe) 0.0001 percent of the population. Wow, that's powerful. In other words, one person can change the behaviour of millions of people, without even being known.

Your competitors are your best friends

When it comes to competition, people usually associate it with the "ennemy", the bad vs. the good, "they do wrong - we do right", etc... But we're wrong.

Why? Because our competitors:

- oblige us to improve or create new things
- push us to think outside the box
- explore new ways/strategies for us (at no cost)
- promote our industries
- are often very good potential partners

So tomorrow, imagine the impossible. Think of ways to work with your partner. It might remove some barriers you might had in your mind. And if you still cannot imagine such thing, have a look at Tom peter's blog. If you do not want to partner with your competitors, you should at least respect and be opened to them.

Is this 'me'?

In his post, Seth Godin talks about the pleasure for us to read our names. And he actually gives an interesting example, on how marketers use some strategies to "grab" your attention. But he also underlines the fact that, in some time from now, that strategy will be over used, and we will start ignoring these emails/pictures.. with our own names.

Well, in one part, this is true. When we are tricked by something/someone several times, we tend to become suspicious and sometimes, inhibited. But our names...would that really happen? I mean, this is probably the one of the only words that when we hear it, we react on it instantly, even though we heard it hundreds or thousands of times.

I do think marketeers will continue using personnalization as a strategy for a very long time. And I also believe they'll go even further by adding elements in their message you will be familiar with (ie. friend's or family's names, your company's name, etc..). The more familiar elements they will include in their message, the higher attention we will 'pay'.

Consumers, be ready!