Max Barry

mktg case study #8: mktg groceries [2]

USE LARGE SPECIAL! TAGS ON GOODS WITHOUT REDUCING THEIR PRICE. PRACTICE THE LINE: “OUR COMPANY FEELS THAT THE WORD SPECIAL IN NO WAY IMPLIES A CONNECTION WITH PRICE.”

Some people would break the rules to get things done and some wouldn't; it was simple as that. John didn't have much use for the latter.

She was surprised by Dallas’s ugliness. Even with the sun rising behind it, the city looked as if it had been built to withstand bombardment. She’d never seen so much concrete in one place.

“What do you think?” Rendell said in the cab. “Nice, huh?”

“Where are the trees?”

“There are some parks.” He craned his neck. “I think you can see one…” A heavy truck roared alongside them. The cab darkened like it was descending into the earth. Violet put her fingers in her ears. “Past that traffic accident.”

I learned pretty early in my career as an agent to be friendly to utter jerks; it’s an essential skill.

“She’s such a bitch,” Tina says, which I find a little contradictory, but overall quite true. “She’s got to be in charge of everything.”

I sit next to her. “Well, I guess. But in business, that’s leadership.”

Tina stares at me for a second. “I can’t believe you consider that a positive trait. How about her inability to accept other points of view? Is it good leadership to be narrow, too?”

“Focus,” I say. “They call that focus.”

Tina stares at me. “Her paranoia?”

“Business savvy.”

“Compulsive need to have everything just how she wants it?”

“Organizational skills.”

“Aggressiveness?”

“Aggressiveness,” I say, “is already a good thing.”

“Jesus Christ,” Tina says, her eyebrow ring glinting in the morning sun. “Sometimes I worry about this country.”

mktg case study #6: mktg cigarettes

FOR A PRODUCT THAT KILLS ITS CUSTOMERS, THIS IS PRETTY EASY. FOR ONE THING, YOU ONLY NEED TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO START BUYING. BUT THE BEST PART IS THAT YOU GET TO DEFEND THE ACT OF SELLING A PRODUCT YOUR CUSTOMERS CAN’T STOP BUYING BY CLAIMING THEY HAVE FREEDOM OF CHOICE. BEFORE EACH MARKETING CAMPAIGN, PRACTICE THE LINE: “IT IS NOT THE POLICY OF OUR COMPANY TO DICTATE THE LIFESTYLE OF OUR CUSTOMERS.”

The T-shirt was black with a big NRA logo on the chest: an AK-47 crossed with a burly arm. Underneath, it said: FREEDOM IS AN ASSAULT RIFLE. That was kind of catchy, Billy thought. The NRA was getting hip.

6 says, “Tina’s doing an arts degree.”

“Oh?” I say, as if the eyebrow ring, blond hair with a streak of black and oppressive eye makeup hadn’t tipped me off.

“Oh, let me guess,” Tina says. “He’s a marketer.”

“Hi,” I say.

…“I hope they pay you well for strangling the youth of this country with cultural conformity.”

"I remember when you could always rely on those little street kids to pop a few people for the latest Nikes," Vice-President John said. "Now people get mugged for Reeboks, for Adidas — for generics, for Christ's sake."

"The ghettos have no fashion sense anymore," the other John said. "I swear, they'll wear anything."

What’s not fair is that our society rewards selfishness. That’s not fair.

"John here," the other John said, "pioneered the concept of marketing by refusing to sell any products. It drives the market insane."

“White coke?”

“It’s a trial product.”

“Wow, sounds cool. What does it taste like?”

“Coke,” 6 says.

“Well, yeah,” I say, “but how is it different to, say, Classic Coke?”

“It’s in a different can,” 6 says.

I wait, but 6 just looks at me. “What, that’s it?”

“No,” she says. “It will also cost twice as much.” She pours herself a Pepsi. “We’re after a more upmarket niche.”

“You really expect people to pay double for a white can?” I ask, astounded. “When it tastes exactly the same?”

6 aims a chiseled frown at me. “I didn’t say it tastes exactly the same. I said it is exactly the same.”