Today's Marketing: The Art of Hustling Air, And Then Some!

If you could go back in time, to say 1985, and tell a venture capitalist that you had a great idea, taking water and putting it into plastic bottles and selling it for a buck or more a shot, what do you think he’d say?

Perhaps, “You’re crazy! No one will pay for something that they can get, free!”

And what if, in the next breath you said, “Better yet, I’m going to sell bottled air that people will inhale through nostril tubes, and I’ll call the places where they get their snorts, oxygen bars.”

Or, what if you said you had the contrarian idea of placing the label of a shirt on the outside of the collar, for advertising purposes, instead of the inside; or that you could get $300 and up for used looking jeans with holes cut in them?

How would these brainstorms go over?

The auto club just came out with a platinum card. It isn’t for charging goods and services.

It’s just an “elite” card that gives you a longer, tow, when your car breaks down. Maybe, there is some other bell or whistle attached—I don’t remember.

But there’s no question, this card is a moneymaker, and will probably become successful, because a certain number of people want the best, no matter what it seems to be.

I expect someone will package premium, 100% organic, gold label, rainforest-ripened, limited edition, manure, soon. Maybe they do, now, calling it a lawn builder.

The market is booming for ego products, and for nearly anything that sounds new or effete or trendy.

I’m not putting this down; I admire the marketers and entrepreneurs who are creative enough to pull off these coups.

I want to be like them when I grow up, if I can only be so audacious!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com