Costco, Harry Potter, and a Marketing Lesson

Posted • July 21, 2007 • 3 Comments

Can we learn a Marketing lesson from a short shopping trip? My answer is a hearty YES!

I just stopped by Costco (brick and mortar in Clackamas Oregon). We had Pictures to drop off and I needed a bottle of Tabasco. You know the monster bottles that last a month. What I say was amazing. As I passed other shoppers 1 out of 3 had a copy of the new Harry Potter book. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is final book of seven in the Harry Potter series of novels by JK Rowling.

The current Harry Potter book actually went on sale at 12:01 this morning. And now it is on sale at Costco. I spotted it in the carts of one third of the shoppers. The most interesting thing was there were no children attached to these shoppers. Was this a great job of marketing or just the result of consumer demand?

My opinion is both. Sure the Harry Potter series was very popular with the public but marketing has done it’s job. Which came first the word of mouth or the marketing of the book? Did the movies promote the book or visa versa? This is a good example of synergy. Each one feeds off the other until you forget which came first the chicken or the egg. Or does it really matter?

If you are planning a Marketing Strategy take a look at the successful ones. What can you learn from them? This should be second nature. What most people forget to do is take a look at the failed Marketing Strategies Do you remember Microsoft BOB and or Windows ME? What can we learn from the flops? The biggest lesson we can learn from the above is when you release a product that is supposed to be better than the previous one make sure it really is. You can’t put new clothes on an old product and call it new and improved. “Roger, you are still a tiger!”

What is in your list of flops? Let’s find out if we can learn anything from them.

Food for thought.

Late,
seopdx/gary-pool.html”>Gary Pool

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