Scarcity Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
July 2, 2009
Way back
in my days as a college student in the early 1970s, Coors beer was the rage
among my peers. Reason - originally it was sold only west of the Mississippi
River, and thus was a scarce commodity in my hometown of Chicago. So Coors
developed a cult following because we thought we were missing out on
something special.
My wife hails from Springfield, MO, and in the early days of our marriage we made frequent driving trips to visit her family there. For the return trip we'd pack the trunk with cases of Coors for ourselves and to fill orders from friends. As time passed Coors got distributed nationwide, and the beer revealed itself as a rather humdrum product. To my modern taste, and in accordance with its market share, Coors is one of the most inferior mass-marketed brews.
I
was reminded of the Coors mystique when I read this
article in the Chicago Tribune about the first opening of a Sonic
Drive-In
restaurant in our area. Sonics also began out west and have
more than
3,400 outlets in 37 states, but apart from the nostalgic kick of having
car
hops take your order, I don't think their burgers and
shakes are worth going out of the way for. Same goes
for the
In-'N-Out burger chain on the West Coast that derives a cachet from
acting like
a fast food joint but making sandwiches to order (and thus slowing down
service).
Nonetheless, there's something intriguing about this notion of scarcity marketing. Put on your thinking caps and see if there's a way to make it work for your clients.
My wife hails from Springfield, MO, and in the early days of our marriage we made frequent driving trips to visit her family there. For the return trip we'd pack the trunk with cases of Coors for ourselves and to fill orders from friends. As time passed Coors got distributed nationwide, and the beer revealed itself as a rather humdrum product. To my modern taste, and in accordance with its market share, Coors is one of the most inferior mass-marketed brews.
Nonetheless, there's something intriguing about this notion of scarcity marketing. Put on your thinking caps and see if there's a way to make it work for your clients.