(MSc) Sebinomics

Just imagine: Britney Spears will stop making pop music and start recording Heavy Metal a la Metallica! Wow, would people say. But wouldn’t her fans, who liked her pop music, be disappointed? And, wouldn’t her new target audience rather be skeptical towards her new orientation?

A brand needs to be true and honest to itself and to its target group. It cannot just reinvent and reposition itself overnight, and it will not work in the short-run either. Certain companies think they figured out how to make a quick buck by just reposition some products from the high-priced to rather low-priced sector just to reach the masses. Maybe these companies did not realize that the Bell Curve flipped upside-down in the twenty-first century. high sales volumes happen at the edges. A product has to be either very cheap –better said, the cheapest– or it better be very expensive with a free prize inside.

Many companies who have been successful in the past decade by being a premium brand have now smelled the money and want to give up their position and go for the middle, which is making their products mediocre. I will not list companies here, because I would like you out there to reflect over this and send me some names of brands that you think are moving away from their customer base. These companies might not have done their homework properly and do not know that today mediocre will not work anymore. Average products for average people do not succeed anymore. Only the remarkable products will lead the game and they are always found at the edges. Think of Tiffany’s and all expensive Swiss watches at the high-priced end and Wal-Mart and Skype-out at the low-priced end.

As Seth Godin writes in his latest book ‘Meatball Sundae’, “Advertising no longer matters. Instead, the market belongs to companies offering products that are either a remarkable value or remarkably weird”.

Looking forward reading your ideas to this topic!

In my last blog entry I wrote that “The Best Teacher Is The Stage”. And on the “stage” one should be “true and honest” in order for the “show” to become a success. What I mean by this is that if you start marketing your products or services as if they were flawless no one will believe you in the long run, because no product and no service is perfect!

I was very enthusiastic when we opened up our Apple shop in Zurich, Switzerland, and started giving presentations and demonstrations about our awesome Macs. Soon I had to realize that I should stay enthusiastic and point out the great advantages you have if you work on an Apple computer, but if I point out the flaws in a way the possible new Mac user will not forget, he will be ready and not (too) upset if exactly that very problem will appear. And, they will remember (for a next time) that you do not want to sell them just anything for the sake of your bonus. If you know that there is something very essential your customer needs to do with your product but it cannot do, tell them right away before losing too much of your and her time telling her trivial things she does not need to know (yet).

A show is always only as interesting as the show master makes it. To make the show interesting, the show master has to provide information the audience does not necessarily know yet but wants to know, and which the audience can rely on. Always imagine yourself in your audience’s shoes. What if you retain valuable information the customer should know before she buys a $1,500 computer? Even if she did not ask you about it. Tell her what you know about possible incompatibility, hardware problems, third-party services, and so on. Just everything that could become important when she starts working with that product.

We live in a time where many people are looking for information and especially consumers share their knowledge and experiences with each other to prevent marketers, sales people, and promoters to screw us all. Therefore, all you marketers, sales people, consultants, and promoters: be transparent or you will regret it in the long run, because, Only A Transparent Show Is A Sustainable Show!