- Seth Godin
While working on an in-class assignment to come up with challenges that an eco-friendly laundry detergent might face from within its own company, my group thought that it may not be allocated enough money for marketing. This idea reminded me of one of Seth Godin’s blogs. It was called “How much are you going to tip?”.
The premise of the blog was that being the presumed front-runner appeals to the people who want to play it safe and follow the crowd. In the case of laundry detergent, the obvious front runners are companies like Tide and Sunlight. Based on their advertisements alone, one gets the feeling that these companies claim a large market share and are products that people generally like.
This brings up a question, though: What if the eco-friendly laundry detergent company advertised as much as Tide or Sunlight? From a financial perspective, it may seem unwise to spend as much money on advertising as Tide or Sunlight when its market share isn’t nearly as large. However, unless the company is willing to advertise as though it was a front-runner, I don’t think that the company will ever become one. This means that it can only rely on the support of the consumers who want to help the smaller companies reach their goals. Though, you can’t really rely on this. As Seth Godin puts it: “We say we want to root for the underdog, but actually, we want to be seen as rooting for whomever everyone else is rooting for.”
It will take a lot for the company to allow itself to spend so much money on advertising. But I think this is what Steve Jobs would call a “bet-the-company moment”. It takes courage to succeed.