https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sePkwzs-3o

“Marketing 101: if you live in any major city, you see 800 ads a day. In most of them, models are going to be looking at you like they want to fuck you. You’re so used to this that you don’t even notice it. But your body does. Your heart rate increases, you pupils dilate, you breathe faster, you become more alert. You’ve been tapped. Looking at billboards is supposed to feel like love at first sight. But it’s not real love, it’s just marketing. And without that, you wouldn’t even know who you are.” ~Scat (Syrup 2013)

Syrup (2013) is a movie about marketing, how the corporation does it, how we do it, and the effect it has on all of us. Plot summary here.

As Trout and Ries stated, positioning and marketing is a battle for the mind. Scat’s initial idea is unique and his product becomes the essential first of its kind the market, aligning with Ries and Trout’s claim that the best way to get into the mind of the consumer is to be first. Its selling point is also very simple: it’s a drink called Fukk, appealing to the very image conscious consumer, and with a name that sticks (another point that Trout and Ries make). However, after defecting to the other cola company (essentially Pepsi) he creates a similar product which shouldn’t sell as well according to the basic rules of marketing. The first generally claims the majority of the market. However, he manages to overtake the original product by marketing the new one in a way that appeals directly to the emotions of consumers.

“The success of this product depends on people being shallow, superficial, self-obsessed, greedy, and desperate for attention. This is the American dream in a can.”

While one would hope this isn’t a 100% accurate reflection of our world, the movie does provide insights into the world of marketing and what we’re really buying when we make a purchase. Scat is asked a few times what the drink tastes like, but he points out it doesn’t matter. When people buy the product, they’re not buying it because they love the taste. They’re buying a status symbol, something that makes them feel good about themselves, something the corporation has attached a price to beyond the worth of the syrup in the can. Filling those wants, the ones that surpass the physical need for caffeine or to quench thirst, is the real job that the consumers have hired the company to do. Their value proposition is not the drink. It’s the emotions behind it. More than they’re buying an energy drink, the customers are buying an image. That’s marketing.