MeMag June 2014.pdf Jun. 2014 | Page 9

WHY SH*T SELLS by Jaimz Uji Oka (name changed for legal reasons) is an indigenous mobile device company that builds amazing phones. Imagine the marriage of Apple’s wonderful design genius, the Nokia Lumias out of this world’s user interface and the widely accepted android platform all wrapped up in one phone that’s affordable, rugged and best of all has amazing battery life. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why you have never heard of or seen this device right? Well, that’s because the company’s CEO uttered the words that are every Ad man’s Kryptonite, Our devices are so good they will basically sell themselves”. Never has there been a lie of such epic proportions since before President Clinton stepped before the ethics committee that January morning in 1998 and uttered the words that have been used by cheating lovers all over the world……. Anyway, I digress. I tilted this piece (drum roll please) WHY SH*T SELLS because as far as I’m concerned the greatest marketer on the planet is a hot steaming mass of fecal matter. Why, you ask? Because a massive dump announces its presence, it assaults all of your senses simultaneously and its unapologetic about it. We live in a fast paced world with so many things clamoring for our attention dai- ly. People have more options today than ever before, and so businesses need to seriously up their game to get noticed. It doesn’t matter if you’re a behemoth like Coca-Cola with an annual advertising budget that can eradicate hunger globally or a simple start up with your global headquarters situated in your mum’s garage, you need to get the word out and connect to people on a personal level. The goal is to create top of the mind awareness i.e., be the generic name that comes to mind when they think of your niche market , Be the Vaseline to Petroleum yet to jelly, Be the Maggi to cubed seasoning, Omo to detergents etc.. The best way to do this is to take a lesson from our good friend poo, assault all sentence simultaneously. roll out an elaborate campaign like apple (but if you can make one like NIKE and Just do it) did but Visibility counts. The way you package and sell your services or products says a lot about the core of your business. Classic Apple iPod Remember you only get one shot at a good first impression so if it’s a flier, a billboard, a complimentary card or even your office space you ight need to visually assault