My youngest grandchild, Samantha, will turn two at Thanksgiving time....

She’s just starting to speak words adults can recognize. Of course, the first words were “Mama” and “Dada,” but the word she now says most distinctly and emphatically is “Mine!”

This is her first four-letter street word. Or maybe she learned it from the other children in the day care facility. Whatever the origin, it’s now her word, and her thought.

What does this have to do with marketing? Remember the Wordsworth line “the child is father of the man.” If a two-year-old expresses feelings about ownership, what do disenfranchised 20-year-olds or 50-year-olds feel? The average American can’t own something big. If it’s a house, for example, the bank really owns it most of the time. Perhaps that’s why collectables still have such appeal, and why timeshares (both vacation homes and super luxury automobiles) are booming.

When you have mass advertising and mass production, it is difficult to convey ownership. It’s difficult for a buyer to say “Mine!” when everyone on the block has the same product in the same color. Customization allows the buyer to say “Mine!”, and the marketing that works conveys that as a benefit of purchase.

Out of the mouths of babes…