Comments on: doom and gloom are your friends

By: Lawctopus » How Law Students Can Give Birth To The Journalist Inside Them? » Lawctopus

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:31:55 +0000

[…] is by Hugh Macleod and is available here. Share this!PrintEmail […]

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 20:48:41 +0000

I agree with you somewhat, Rodrigo, but another point I haven’t quite talked about yet.
As a marketer, my aim in not to get customers to think differently about my client’s product, but to get my client to think differently about their customer.
And I find blogs a good way of doing that, although yeah, it’s not the only way.

By: Sheamus

Sheamus — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:36:54 +0000

GREAT piece of analysis Hugh!
I LOVE how you cut through the doom and gloom crud of mainstream media types and… presented a far more accurate and meaningful picture of the situation (and benefits) for Thresher and their customers.
A company who set out in the hope of creating this kind of interest would wet their pants with joy to produce results even close to the visibility and shopping traffic into their businesses as experienced by Thresher.
The fun thing is that Thresher got all these benefits by accident! I wonder if bloggers might have had some effect in creating this great situation (for customers and Thresher!)!!!
Traditional marketing types are quaking in their boots!!!!!

By: John

John — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 17:17:35 +0000

You love this don’t you.

By: Rodrigo Dauster

Rodrigo Dauster — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:43:58 +0000

Gentlemen,
This is called “buying market share”. FMCG brands have tried it. Newspapers (especially in London) have tried it too. This sort of behaviour is generally frownwed upon by the academics and the suits… Of course you will sell more if you cut the price. But the problem is that (1) you are training the consumer to buy a bargain not a brand/shopping experience (2) you are starting a pricing war which like gangland wars or civil wars leaves to misery… The right way to judge this campaign is to ask “will the Thresher-promo-wielding customer return for a second purchase?” I don’t see anything in this campaign with a hook. I think, therefore, that it is a badly conceived campaign.

By: Geoff Lane

Geoff Lane — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:23:01 +0000

There is an old marketing joke, “We make a small loss on each sale, but we’ll make it up in volume.“
While the print media may have missed the point, the BBC is reporting that the 40% discount is on a very high initial price. The same or similar wines are available elsewhere at around 60% of the Thresher shop price.
The high Thresher prices is one reason I don’t shop there; the other is the lack of a local shop. Tesco is cheaper and has a very good no hassle delivery service.

By: mcewen

mcewen — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 11:01:45 +0000

oooh - you nicked my tag [translation = pinched my words ] = 'doom' and 'gloom', or rather the lack thereof, in my particular circumstances. Love the cartoon. Cheers http://whitterer-autism.blogspot.com

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 08:45:30 +0000

I think you’re wrong, Steve, You’re missing something.
Most people are smart enough to figure out what you just said [unless you write for Fleet Street, of course, but then the conversation really isn’t about value for money; it’s about property prices, school fees and midlife-crucifixion, however cleverly disguised]. Yet the viral went crazy anyway. Why?
So. Why. Did. People. Get. Into. It?
Because. The. Offer. Though. Perhaps. Not. The. Best. In. The. World. On. Paper. It. Was. Enough. To. Give. The. Average. Shopper. Enough. Reason. To. Shop. At. Thresher’s. As. Opposed. To. Having. To. Go. To. Some. Ugh. Gag. Puke. Vomit. Vast. Suburban. Tacky. Infested. Supermarket. And. Mix. With. The. Plebians.
Class War Roolz OK Oi!

By: Steve Bowbrick

Steve Bowbrick — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 07:50:57 +0000

But ultimately, unless I’m wrong about trends in marketing, it has to fail because it’s based on a deception. *Pretending* that your discount promotion is an accident can’t possibly be a good basis for a relationship with the people who take it up — especially once they find out it was all made up…

By: Mike Coulter

Mike Coulter — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 07:23:06 +0000

Hugh, I asked my local Oddbins manager this afternoon if he was aware of the Threshers promo.
He said that he was, but he got somewhat defensive, and appeared to be a wee bit rattled by it all. (He’s actually a really nice bloke incidentally.)
This suggested to me that there’s perhaps another ‘benefit’ to Threshers. And that is to give their staff a bit of a fillip, a bit more to feel upbeat about, in taking the fight to the likes of Oddbins. (Who’ve pretty much been giving other wine merchants a bit of a kicking for pretty much the whole of the last decade, winning the Wine Merchant of the Year accolade time and time again.)

By: Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:44:02 +0000

“Now factor in how much was spent on the promo [i.e. Almost Zero]. Compare that to hiring a bog-standard celebrity endorsement or mainstream advertising campaign.“
In my local Thresher this afternoon, I noticed life-size cut-out displays of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey dotted around the store.
That kind of endoresment must be costing Thresher a fortune.
Be interesting to measure how much wine & champagne Thresher has shifted that’s attributable to that celeb tie-in, and how much via the word-of-mouth 40% offer…