Sales and Marketing

I have friends whose career it is to get people to buy things, entice people into liking something, or make something look its best. I respect and love these people. I don't their trades, though.

I've never been one to tell people about something they didn't ask for unless it comes up as directly relate-able to the conversation, and I'm certainly not going to weave a conversation just so we can talk about something (as a recent employer had goaded us again and again to do). I really dislike that.

Yes, life is easier without having to barter. This obsession that especially this country has with amassing material wealth is insane, though. It's not this country though. You have Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe that have these witch doctors who entice people to believe other human beings' body parts will get them the wealth they seek.

They've conned people into believing bald men's heads have a trove of gold within them. And people are killing for that "gold".

People think that because I want to hear people's stories that I want to use that information to sell them something because I "know them". No! I want to know people's stories because they're unique and because it's the story itself that's valuable.

I can't buy a meal or pay rent with those stories, though there probably are illicit or illegal markets for certain stories, but they're valuable to me.

I just wish people did things because it's nice rather than because you might make money off it.

Nametag It

It's not the first time I've wondered, but I've been wondering when television commercial producers had decided to start putting nametags visibly on their characters, or even giving the characters names in-commercial (like Maxwell the Pig).

The first one I really remember paying attention to is Annie from Popeye's Louisiana Chicken, and from there it's been everything from Matt of Carmax to these new commercials (of I forget which car company) where they have splash screens of the characters' names when they've completed the obstacle course of supposed "hard customers".

This comes to me because, partly, I wear a nametag at work and partly because I – based on apparent work standards – have to "introduce" myself to every customer. I can't help wondering if this is a change that had occurred — if at all — around the same time commercial characters started getting names. I can sort of get it as far as those characters go, since, I suppose, those that do have names are in a sequence of commercials either in format or in "storyline".

Logically, it's begun to make sense for me too, the self-introduction (though it's so intensely contrary to my self-effacingness most of the time): when you come back, you know me as more than just the ugly, big-headed, Spanish-speaking burnt-Black dude in glasses. At the same time, the vast majority of the people I deal with don't (seem to) come back due to their being transient, or if they do it's either I've not dealt with them sequentially or I've just forgotten them completely.

I suppose it's partly an exercise to get me to like myself more. Who knows?

Welcome: my name is Kris and I'm here to assist you today.

Marketing Milo

My mother got back from a trip to Jamaica yesterday, and quite typically she'd brought back stuff. Among the items were eight packs of Milo, a Nestlé product I grew up having. Granted, it wasn't a frequent part of my childhood, but it's something I knew about.

So, the thought of this blog post came earlier in the week as I was looking at a can of Milo mummy had bought here in the US. Me knowing Spanish, I was comparing the English to the Spanish translation (or the Spanish to the English interpretation, whichever it is).

The Spanish translates literally as "Chocolate-Flavored Fortified Food", which is vastly different from the English. In Spanish, it makes the product to seem as if it's a meal replacement; in English, it's just something recreational to drink, a nice-to-have.

So, mummy coming back with Milo from Jamaica now, both the English and Spanish are a little more in line together, but in the islands they market it as something that can replace a meal as well, or at the very least it's something one can drink when you can't eat at the time (such as while at play).

That's interesting marketing, actually. Why would you market a product as a drink for one set of people and as a food for another? I'm certain that those who use it as a food can't be doing quite as well in all their health numbers, especially with the amount of sugar per serving. Is it a disposable income matter, that those who would use it as food have less money to spend, and so this is their quick-fix meal?

I really don't know, but marketing a beverage like that as a meal just doesn't seem right to me.