Your car's seat: creating demand for luxury

Put briefly:
Carmakers have aptly created the demand for luxurious surroundings in cars. The interesting thing is that we are not used to living in such comfort in the office or at home, even though we spent more time in them than in our cars. Is it because cars are more expensive than our office or living room interiors, so we expect more? Or just good marketing?
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Some of us have real leather seats at home. A select few have them at the office. Most of our office chairs have some sort of adjustment knobs. Our home ones most often do not. Very few are shaped according to our own bodies. None of our office or home seats are heated. Even fewer are cooled through micro-porous holes.

However, when it comes to our cars, we want nothing short of The Best. The colors must perfectly match our Swiss pine trim, the materials need to be hypoallergenic, the scent preapproved by technicians with complicated titles. Also, if our kids change our seat setting, we are sure to give them hell. The lumbar support bar needs to be just right, the seat inclined so that our legs do not get tired, and most importantly, the electronic feature which inclines the seat sideways as the car turns, must be on.

Oh, and let's not forget the S class's seats which give you a shiatsu massage. That we cannot live without. Unless I am a unique example, I get sleepy when massaged. My driving skills therefore do not improve. If a large Thai masseuse with palms of bliss was trapped in my seat, I would be the one not starting on the green light, forgetting to turn the blinker off for miles, and not turning the headlights on. And why would you? When you are already in heaven.

Let's take your office chair, on the other hand. The settings vary from ridiculously low to impossibly high (which does not let you approach the desk). If you are lucky to have a nice reclining seat, the adjustment knob is not as accurate and definitely not electric. Heating or cooling? You can't even adjust the thermostat of your centrally controlled airco!? Let alone your favorite fabric or colors that match anything than the Kmart logo colors.

Yet we spend more time in our office - an average of 6.5 hours a day. In our cars? 1.3 hours a day. At the home sofa, we spend 2.5 hours a day. But, the car seats cost more. Why do we do it? Because our car is what we show as an achievement. People who we do not invite home can see it. We use the car when feeling good, not just to relax, and not mostly for work.
Finally, it is because car companies offer it. They have created this great demand for luxury, and no other furniture maker can match that.
Not yet.




Compare this seat ____________ Which is built like that

With your office chair

Chasing growth: fool’s gold?

Put briefly:
Growth is sometimes cited as all important, even though it can be misleading. In fact, growth which appears to decline can actually reflect strong, stable performance. Overly focusing on growth as the ultimate goal has its pitfalls. However, insatiable appetite for success can lead to creativity.
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The global economic downturn in 2009 gave rise to plenty of talk about troublesome trends – slowing economies, next-to-zero GDP growth, and companies facing lower profit growth rates.

The questions is, do we need to worry about growth? Is growth real? Can we sustain growth eternally?
Alternatively, we should move on to measuring other trends or indicators of performance.

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Take this example for the number of shoes sold globally 2000-2008. The chart (measuring the growth of shoe sales) appears appalling; after 2003, the growth slows down to almost zero!
However, growth measures the difference between actual values. Decreasing growth signifies a slowdown of the newer value, but NOT a decrease from the previous value. Zero growth only means no change; zero growth stands for status quo.



The second chart shows the real values. After 2005, the shoe sales stabilize. They are still very much higher than in 2002. However, growth is very low. Hardly a doomsday scenario.


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Growth in itself is driven by greed and guilt.
In that sense, the struggle for growth itself is a never-ceasing force to race for market share. When the market is saturated, the usual tactic employed is to create needs which did not exist before – so that money can be made satisfying these needs. It also leads to preplanned obsolescence, and also to an everlasting war over market share.

In conclusion, I am not denying progress.
It is in our nature to strive to continuously improve ourselves, our work and our financial situation. This drive leads to technological inventions and developments in society. Without it, we will become complacent. Our neighbor will then get a better car and our competitor will win another battle in the war for market share.
The important thing is not to hold growth as the ultimate goal. Progress can be measured by stability as well.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment to let me know.

(Why) Marketing and (Which) Society?

Welcome! Why the connection between marketing and society?
Living in North America, Europe and Australia, I have been contemplating and writing about the interconnectedness between marketing and society. Fluctuating trends affect both of them - economic, social, political, and the established business environment. (Marketing cannot exist out of society, and the unknowing members of each target market can hardly find the products and services they need without marketing.)
For the last couple of months, I have been 'itching' to share some of my observations and conclusions on how we can improve this connection. I will try to have at least one post a week on these and related topics - economics, politics, social issues, marketing and business advice and breakthroughs, advice and tips. I welcome all posts and will answer in a reasonable time.

Thank you for taking the time to visit the site and I invite you to check back regularly for the future posts - which I will keep intriguing and worth your time.

Marketing and Society's author,
Milen Minchev