Marketing “The High” (How To Sell Ice to Eskimos)
May 19, 2008 · Reading Time: 1min 51sec · Print This Article
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It’s about replicating “the high”.
In a workshop I attended sometime back, I was shocked at the remark given that it’s hard to sell food online because “you cannot taste food online”.
Yes you can. Think of the many closeup photographs in high resolution and saturation. Beauty of taste never felt before = Beauty of exceptional images of food in never before seen angles.
Imagine you’re a shoe seller, and someone comes up with the idea to sell shoes online. A feedback soon will come akin to this: “But customers like the experience of putting on the shoe. You can’t put on a shoe online!”
Yes you can. Think of Nike and their online shoe making site, allowing users to have the freedom to choose what designs can be placed on their shoe. Freedom to put on a shoe = Freedom to customize.
When you require a transfer of your Place distribution, your branding consistency is essential. Part of branding is the experience than customers are used to and expecting of your product. Here are some examples:
- Mark Burnett and his reality tv shows like Survivor and The Contender. Notice how there is always the trademark “boardroom” ? Even the kickboxing show The Contender has a “boardroom” (the ring). And yes, the trademark end scene with the little jingle and credits. Following this template has kept his branding consistent and customer switches from one show to another easier for the customer.
- How about movies which return decades later with sequels or prequels? Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Superman just to name a few (Remember the trademark jingle, and ending of the old superman movies, and how it’s replicated in the new movie).
So is it about tasting the food? It’s about tasting the high.
Is it about wearing the shoe? It’s about wearing the high.
Targeted suggestions for our partners who make great products:
- Having an infotainment and wish to transfer medium to maybe a book? If your videos were fun, make the book fun (pop ups, colours, page slots). If your videos were serious, design the book with finesse (tall books, tall fonts, b n w perhaps)
- Having a good education system and wish to communicate that brand value in your center’s facade? Concentrate on what exactly makes your system work (mantra, communication principles to students, etc) and translate the same philosophy in decor and facade. For example, it could be Trust, in which case now you communicate Trust in your pictures and setting while sticking to your current colour themes (do your current themes convey Trust?).
Taking it a step further, if you are able to not only replicate a high but make the high higher given the medium’s competitive advantage over the old one…
Then you might be able to sell ice to eskimos.
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haha, i love this poster.
Hey, yup it’s something eh. Jazakallah and thanks for registering for the forum as well!
[...] Here are examples of my own boxshots. Notice the impact these leave as you look at them, even though in principle, they are just graphics designed and rendered to simulate something which is not there. Another example of replicating the “high”… : [...]