GORDON GECKO IS RIGHT!

Gordon Gecko is now out of prison and back in your local theater and more vocal than ever before. He has become famous for declaring that “greed is good.” He’s right. He’s dead right.

For a number of years I have written about “free enterprise,” its origin and its true nature. Contrary to historical accounts, it is not a choice and never has been. And more so, greed is its most critical component.

I remember being taught in college that Free Enterprise was some kind of economic choice, a choice that we Americans were very proud of having made. We claim to have mastered it and promoted it to the rest of the world. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If free enterprise is not a choice then what is it? Well, it does exist. It’s in all of our lives yet we have never chosen it and never will. It was just there. I say Free Enterprise is a fundamental law of nature. There are three aspects of human nature that qualify it as a law of nature. They are always present as is Free Enterprise itself.

The first aspect is that we humans love to collect things. The second aspect is that we like to have more things than our fellow humans. The third aspect is our innate desire to have some if not all of the things that other humans have.

Given that, we humans have two choices. We go to war and take their things. Or, those more civilized of us, exchange some of our things for some of their things. Hopefully, over time, we do less of the former and more of the latter.

This innate urge to gather things is clearly defined by Webster in five words. “A strong desire for more”. If you look up the definition of greed, these are the words you will find. It may well be that greed is the force that is the cause for the existence of free enterprise. By the way, I do not consider any of this bad. It simply is the way it is. Being aware of it is an access to working with it.

I have also noticed that greed is not distributed equally. Most of us have just the right amount to keep free enterprise operating smoothly. There are those who seem to have too much greed and those who don’t seem to have enough. Those with not enough are declared dysfunctional and just don’t seem to contribute to society. They are simply lost. Those who have an overabundance are also dysfunctional and are often, but not always, sent to prison.

What is to be learned here? If we are indeed thrust into this game called Free Enterprise, then learn the game, learn to play it and learn to enjoy it. Ultimately, we have no choice.

I have been a big fan of Michael Douglas from “Streets of San Francisco” to “Wall Street.” God speed Michael, we need you back up there on the big screen.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

NO ONE WANTS BAD SUSHI…RIGHT?

Of all the bad consumer experiences I can think of, being served bad sushi is easily the worst I can recall. Bad sushi is something you can smell coming. If not that, I have also smelled the bleach that was used to clean the stains out of the plastic dishes before they got to my table. That too seems to qualify as bad sushi. I could go on, but the point is the term “bad sushi” resonates with most of us as a strong negative.

If you’ve hung around me very long, you are familiar with my constant reference to developing and using remarkable triggers in your sales message. Remarkable triggers are words or graphics in your sales message that illicit an immediate and positive response from your target consumer. They occur to consumers as a breakthrough in your category.

Located within a ten-block radius of my office are no less than fifteen sushi restaurants. There are three in particular that are nestled within one fairly small block.  One of them is named En Sushi. I ate there about six years ago only to discover something moving in my salad. I never got to the sushi that night. The second is named California Roll Factory Sushi. I have eaten there and can honestly say it wasn’t bad. The third is new, and I heard about it as soon as it opened when one of my sons insisted we try it out. This one is named BAD Sushi. No kidding. Check it out for yourself.

What do you think? Good idea or bad idea? I say it depends on one thing. A close look at the sign and you can see that BAD is an acronym for “Best And Delicious”. Let’s take a look at it from a marketing perspective.

Clearly the name is remarkable in that it has enough character to be considered a breakthrough in the category. The question remains, is it so remarkable that it won’t wear well? By wear well, I mean will it hold up over time without becoming trite. This occurs when the first impression is considered “cute”, or “funny” or “outrageous”, but on an ongoing basis it becomes irritating and falls out of favor with consumers.  In this case I think “Bad Sushi” may wear well over time. It serves as a strong identifier and is very memorable. There is, however, one more hurdle for such remarkability.

There is one issue the owner needs to be very aware of. Of all retail businesses, customers of restaurants are among the least forgiving. One bad experience and it will likely be a very long time or never before a consumer will return. Beyond that, consumers seem to pride themselves in spreading the negative word. The name BAD Sushi goes beyond an identifier and becomes somewhat of a challenge. “Try me and I will prove to you I am not bad,” is perhaps what it is communicating. Over time, I have learned that all consumers have the same operating state of mind, “what’s wrong here”, meaning they are ready for this kind of a challenge.

As it turns out, my son Eric and I were up for the challenge. We went to BAD Sushi for lunch last week and were clearly there to see how good or bad it was. We could easily have gone to any of the other fourteen or so sushi restaurants in the area but we responded to the subliminal challenge. We ate a lot of sushi and it was all great and some of it was extraordinary. As far as we are concerned, we find it easy and kind of fun to recommend BAD Sushi to friends. I am also very clear that we were in a critical state of mind when we were there, and if the sushi had been average we would have “tagged” it as bad sushi, living up to its name.

The learning here is that it pays to characterize your business in a remarkable way as long as you can support whatever it infers. This is a strategy I have been marketing with for my entire career. How do you feel about bad sushi?


Cheers, 

Keith Chambers
Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com


follow my blog by clicking one of the links below

visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com