The Next Big Thing

Well, perhaps I'm "giving away the store" in this post, and perhaps I'm not. We here at Jay Standish, Inc. LLC are not ones to toss away opportunities for billed consultation, but this is such a "mega-trend" that it probably is better served here than in a more formal "report" or other document.

You've probably seen the news reports that - for the first time in recorded history! - the sales of carbonated soft drinks (i.e. "soda" or "pop") actually declined in the US this past year. Why is this? Most likely a combination of the aging of the population (did you know that the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation is entering its 60's? That's right, the 60's generation is in the 60's again!), and the health conscious dietary habits of the youth of America. What with bottled water and all, it's like pulling teeth to get these tykes to drink a sweetened, carbonated beverage (oh dear, no pun intended there!).

So what are we to make of this? We here at Jay Standish, Inc. LLC believe it's time for more and more marketers to take advantage of our unique selling venue - the full-motion-video-capable beverage dispensing machine. That's right, a savvy marketer could find his (or her!) commercial playing on the front of a Pepsi (or other soft drink) machine in nearly no time at all.

What with the decline in sales, this means the soft drink is becoming more of a considered purchase, rather than simply the impulse, knee-jerk kind of habit it had been in its hey-day. With a considered purchase comes consideration. This means that the purchaser is doing two very important things:

1. Considering a purchase - i.e. actually "thinking" and,
2. Making a purchase - i.e. actually "buying,"

What better time to catch a consumer with a marketing message than when he (or she!) is in the midst of thinking and buying - the two things all modern marketing is designed to elicit. I'll grant that many marketers prefer that their consumers refrain from the "thinking" part of this equation, but we don't handle cigarette machines, only soft drink dispensers.

Still, imagine, if you will, your consumer - for example, a Man (or Woman!) aged 25-54 with a household income of $60,000 (or more!), pumping gas into his (or her!) current vehicle. As the tank fills, and the bill mounts, what better time to catch his (or her!) eye with that full-motion video of a new, fuel-efficient, possibly even hybrid, automobile? The simple answer is, there is no better time, and in this case, the simple answer is the correct answer.

But this brings us to the question of where one can find such machines. Ah, where indeed? Let's leave that conversation for a later post, or even a personal sales call, shall we? We shall indeed!

Excelsior!