Subscribe to the Sense Worldwide newsletter for genuinely interesting internet news that you haven’t already read a million times on blogs that think reading Techmeme is the same thing as finding inspiration. I used to think, in this age of RSS and at-your-convenience distribution, that the email newsletter was dead. It isn’t. There are a couple of other really good e-bulletins that I’ll provide pointers to once I’ve … ermm… unearthed them from my heaving inbox.
From this week’s bulletin, the Pulse Laser blog, and more specifically, this post about the enjoyment of packaging. Admittedly, it was first posted back in November, but I missed it then and was grateful for the pointer.
The fetishism of packaging is really interesting. I’m a Marlboro Lights smoker, and the introduction of their new silver pack, with its side-opening mechanism is fascinating. It opens as though it was a Zippo lighter. Now cigarette manufacturers can’t advertise in the UK, I’m guessing that their options for marketing are looking rather limited. The idea of getting a new brand on to the market must seem pretty daunting. Gimmicky packaging like Marlboro’s and the Benson and Hedges ‘silver slide’ mechanism seem like a clever way to generate word of mouth about their products. I know it works — the first time everyone saw me opening the new Marlboro packet, they said, “ooh — that’s fancy.”*
You may be looking at your screen thinking, “Ian, it’s a packet, and you are a sad case,” and that may be true. However, as the marketing gurus continually point out, we’re not buying things any more, we’re buying experiences. Compare the experience of opening a Dell laptop box and the experience of opening up an iBook. Why do Apple spend all that extra money? Because they aren’t selling a computer, they’re selling a supposedly superior way of ‘living a digital life’. If they can make taking possession of your new machine feel like Christmas, then kudos to them. They are spending extra money on making me, their new user feel better, even though I’ve already bought their product. Apple want a partnership with me; Dell just wanted to flog me a laptop.
The newsletter also points to this wonderful blog — unboxing.com — which is entirely about the pleasures of packaging.**
*Yes, I know cigarettes are dirty and horrible and dangerous and expensive.
**And yes, I know fancy packaging is environmentally unfriendly and ultimately pointless and that I used to talk about commodity fetishism as a cardinal sin when I was younger and more principled.
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Sorry Ian! Cigarettes are lethal! I want to live to 100 years old IN GREAT HEALTH! I want to see you there!
Thank GOD here in California, we have banned the damned things from most venues!
Hi Ian, haven’t chatted with you for long time. Recent we have made quite a lot improvements on Megite. You may want to give it a look. Thanks and talk to you later.
Ian,
I was too harsh on you! Here in CA I was part of a group advocating that bars and restaurants be included as safe harbors from cigarette smoke. So I have strong feelings about smoking in general. But, I don’t take it against someone who does smoke.
I don’t know why I lashed out like I did, so forgive me. Blame it on the wine! :)
@Bob: Hehe don’t worry. We social pariahs will be banned from bars and restaurants here in the UK come the summer — we already are in Scotland & Ireland.
@Matthew: Thanks for the update. I still use Megite very regularly.