Comments on: Marketing Lust

By: Roy Young

Roy Young — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:19:48 +0000

Love your “Dear CMO” posts, Stephen. I heard from Ann that you are also in Los Angeles. I would love to get together and exchange CMO notes when you have time. Send me an email at roy@marketingprofs.com. Thanks.

By: CK

CK — Fri, 25 May 2007 00:46:24 +0000

You want products but what I want to give you is the most passionate, dedicated group who “love uncontrollably” but it ain’t a product nor is it luxury per se…it’s Sci-Fi (um, pick a show, Buffy, Star Trek, Star Wars, Heroes). They are fiercely loyal and congregate and it’s the best marketing that most marketers never witness. Heck, I do b2b for the most part but still make it to ComiCon in NYC. But those fans (customers?) still “own” their product and live through it. They even put their personal touch on it by creating fan-fic and the like. Actually, as I understand, a lot of Harley riders get to live their “wild-side” dreams–so too with these fans as they escape each week in their shows as well as dress-up for conventions. So fun.
I’ll think on it more.

By: Stephen Denny

Stephen Denny — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:55:37 +0000

CK, you’re killing me. Yes. Yes to all. Give me an example of experience, where owning the product is completely unique and owning a fake doesn’t cut it. No one (except Grant and his ThinkPad, come to think of it) raves about their PC; but Mac people rave about their Macs. I did a bit of raving about Jaeger LeCoultre and the Atmos. I’m not looking for more ‘good customer service’ comments — I’m talking the “to own is to love uncontrollably” kind of thing.
And to be clear, I’m really looking for brands that can give us all some new insight into this subject. I don’t have the answer on this one at all and I’m anxious to get educated. (Heck, if I just wanted comments, I’d put up a post on RED, or coffee, or something like that).

By: CK

CK — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:16:50 +0000

Oh, another Denny quiz. As always, I’m game. But do you mean experience in that it’s “empowering” like DeBeers right-hand independence and Mac self-expression or do you mean align with a brand for status (like Nike or Harley or Rolex)?
I am absolutely making a distinction because some give us a feeling others align us with a status of some type (which is a feeling but I think you get my ‘gist).

By: Stephen Denny

Stephen Denny — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:48:23 +0000

It wasn’t funny at the time, let me tell you — it was an out of body experience. But the carpet was beautiful, let me tell you.
Creating a user experience that is truly unique that travels well person to person by word of mouth or visually is a key point here, I think.
CK, your Debeers example is a good one. Tell me — where else have we all seen the intangible presented well? Who has the most developed unique “experience”? Is the Mac an example? Who else?

By: CK

CK — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:07:30 +0000

“Creating unique experience is what marketers do, whether creating peace of mind in the hearts of the purchasing managers who buy your ball bearings or outright lust in the hearts of your luxury product owners.”
Great piece, Denny. Creating value (be that value real or perceived or emotional or rational) is what marketers do and yes, developing ‘unique’ experiences is core to that value. I’m not sure at what level monetarily you benchmark “luxury” items (10k? 100k?) but I will share an example that I found terrific being it’s a luxury item of diamonds.
I absolutely love what DeBeers (well, I think it was DeBeers) did with the “right-hand” ring campaign. One of the best ever with its “the left hand shows you love someone, the right hand shows you love yourself,” messaging. What I like is how they took a luxury item and brought it to single women through a message of empowerment. Brilliant experience and play on emotions. It didn’t come off as a manipulative play to me. Sure, they sold rocks to a new target (single women) but the luxury item symbolized something important to the buyer (independence, love of oneself, etc.). That to me qualifies as marketing lust.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:26:09 +0000

Very funny story, Stephen! Getting a customer to make an impulse or emotional buy is one thing when you’re face to face, but it’s quite a different thing to create an emotional link that keeps ‘em coming back.
I’m a writer at Deliver magazine and a recent article featured Hannaford supermarkets, a company that’s managing to do just that http://delivermagazine.com/the-magazine/2006/11/01/bursting-with-ideas/
Let’s be honest, there aren’t many things that evoke emotions the way food does. It makes me hungry just thinking about it!

By: Matt Hamilton

Matt Hamilton — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:03:01 +0000

Your story is a great case study in tapping into people’s emotions (and very entertaining!)
I’ve found that it pays to target people at a time when they are involved in emotional buying: weddings, new babies, vacation, buying a new home, etc…

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:58:30 +0000

Stephen,
As a marketing consultant, my first job is to convince my clients that they don’t sell products (rugs) or services (consulting), they sell experiences that trigger customers’ emotions that also meet their wants and/or needs.
In your example, I think you are sharing a story about a want not a need. If you needed that rug, you would have turned your wallet over to the sales person.
Great, thought-provoking post.

By: Balaji M

Balaji M — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:08:28 +0000

fanatastic write up. Had a good laugh when reading this and the message is absolutely fantastic.
The message is clear. Can your product (or) your knowledge (on a personal level) create a sense of desire and lust in customers…Then your product is bound to do well.
What should you be doing to yourself (or) your product to create that sense of desire..I reckon that is the biggest challenge.