Kit's Marketing Blog

Recently, I came across a website that promotes a very interesting service: a “Dinner in the Sky.” So is it a dinner in a restaurant on the top floor of a really tall tower? or perhaps a restaurant decorated in a nice sky theme? No.

It’s literally, a “Dinner in the Sky.”

http://www.hakuna-matata.be/ditsvid/swf/a_video_worldpressmovie.php

At first sight, I really thought this was a stupid idea. In fact, I was a bit surprised to see that they came up with this service. Wouldn’t the food get cold in the wind? What about the constant fear of falling down? Or what if the hand sweat generated from your body’s fear response makes you lose your grip on your cutlery, which falls through the sky and lands on a pedestrian, possibly injuring them?

But actually, this is a great service. The unique, high-class experience that this service offers is very admirable. Just imagine enjoying classy cuisine while feeling like you’re on the top of the world and admiring the view. It’s luxury at it’s best. They even have waiters to serve you (the picture on the website actually shows the waiters standing up…). In fact, the service is so successful that it hosts meetings, “showbizz” presentations and weddings in the sky as well. And, it’s available in over 30 countries. Some creative customers even used this service to enjoy a nice dinner while getting a great bird’s eye view of a live soccer match.

In my opinion, this service is very innovative; people don’t typically think of having a dinner while hanging in the sky, so it must have been difficult to convince consumers that the experience will be amazing and safe. Furthermore, this is clearly a luxury service. Will there be enough wealthy people interested in this service to gain profits? No one knows for sure; marketing is never a 100% game, but clearly, this company went with the innovation, took a risk, did some research, and launched a service that was met with great success.

Take for example, a bag of candy. Let’s say, Maynards’ Swedish Berries, just because I’m having them right now. Imagine the pack of candy on the candy section of the supermarket you always go to, hanging from the little iron hook that holds 10 other identical packs of Maynard’s Swedish Berries. Now, try to imagine all the time, effort and resources put into that product just so YOU would look at it and then purchase it for maybe, 3.99 CAD.

Think through the packaging (design, color, font, size), the brand, the brand’s history (building customer loyalty), the promotions listed on the package, the nutrious facts, the “Questions? Call: 1-866-xxx-xxxx” section, where exactly the product was placed on the aisle (eye level? crouching level? too-high level?), how far into the candy section it’s placed, which other brands are neighboring it and perhaps promotions at the front of the door to lead you to this product in this aisle. It’s overwhelming! Based on my gut feeling, the creative directors at the company probably had a long meeting as to which color to use for the packaging, and this would be based on research as to what their current consumer base is (men? women? adults? children? basketball players?) or perhaps even the current trend (hannah montana? maybe we should work something out with the hannah montana series and then put her on our packaging?), which means more money and more time utilized.

Now here’s what once made my thought process stop for a while: the element of luck; something you can’t control, but yet, in my opinion, can control your sales. Think back to that supermarket you always go to. What if you just felt like having Maynard’s Swedish Berries? What if it suddenly rained outside? People hanging out right outside the supermarket may come in to get some shelter, and while they’re at it, might suddenly feel like buying a pack of Maynard’s Swedish Berries to cheer themselves up. So at this point, I naturally thought, well, if sales is determined by luck, wasn’t that a waste of resources?

But actually, no it wasn’t. Sales is only affected by luck. Why would people just “feel like” having Maynard’s Swedish Berries, it’s because they’ve had it before (consumer loyalty), was satisfied, and now crave it again. And if it rained outside, for the extra inflow of consumers coming in to the supermarket, Maynard’s Swedish Berries had to make sure that it looked attractive enough or that it had some sort of sustainable competitive advantage over it’s neighbors (perhaps the fact that it is “made with real fruit juice” or that it’s “resealable”) so they could attract new customers.

So after all, the research was worth it. I believe there is indeed a luck of element in your ending sales, but it is the time, effort and resources that lets you and your company transform and turn that luck into sales.

As I write the first post on my blog, I think to myself, what will other see from this blog when I post it? In other words, how am I marketing myself as an individual through this blog? Will the very fact that I decided to name this post “Post #1” make people feel like I’m a boring individual? Or will the fact that it actually ends in “The Beginning” spur interest in readers and make them want to follow my blog? This makes me realize the importance of paying attention to detail in the world of marketing. Every single small detail has to be taken into account when going through the marketing mix for any product. In fact, if you try to think about the time and resources put into hammering out the details in the products currently lying on your table, you will be amazed.