Marketing the Mormons

Published on 4th October, 2007 by Stephen Lewis

Last night I was scuttling through the rain on my way to a friend’s house, already twenty minutes late. I rounded the corner onto a semi-deserted street, leant into an unexpectedly bracing headwind, and quickened my pace.

That’s when I encountered the Mormon. A very cheery-looking young man, enquiring after my religious beliefs. Not wishing to be rude, I slowed to the pace of a professional speed-walker, and answered his question, before pointing out the blindingly obvious – that I was in something of a rush at that particular point in time.

He smilingly handed me a leaflet, declaring that he thought I would “find it useful”, and let me return to battling the howling gale.

This sort of thing mystifies me. Companies that manufacture products have become very good at selling the ideal that their products represent. Here is an organisation whose only product is an ideal, and yet they apparently have absolutely no clue how to sell it.

Nike knows that the best way to sell more golf clubs is to make an advertisement showing Tiger Woods performing his flawless swing, whilst decked out head-to-toe in Nike kit. The rather obvious message is that you too can be this good if you invest a bit of your hard-earned cash in the appropriate Nike gear.

Nike also knows that the best time and place to sell more golf clubs is during a commercial break mid-way through the final round of the U.S. Open, with Woods six strokes ahead of the field.

I’m sure Nike would love to have salesmen as dedicated to the dissemination of their ideal as the Mormon missionary I encountered. I’m also certain that they would be smart enough to realise that a bitingly cold, rainy Wednesday night, on a semi-deserted street corner in Hull is not the best time and place to sell that ideal.