Não é a mesma coisa que vender Tide

O meu amigo açoriano sabia que eu não conseguiria resistir a esta metáfora "Think French":

"The United States is the home of marketing - that’s what all the textbooks say. The US is where Coca-Cola was invented, where TV commercials were first seen, and where modern detergents first promised whiter whites.
France, on the other hand, is the country of medieval farmhouses, of foie gras and of four hundred cheeses. Few would think of France as the home of cutting-edge marketing. But perhaps the world’s marketers ought  to look more closely at France."

...

"And wonder why so many New Yorkers insist on drinking French mineral water.
Or why the kind of Tokyo woman who would never buy a foreign food or electrical item always seems to carry a $2000 French handbag.
Or why hard-nosed Chinese businessmen celebrate deals with fine French wines and cognac.
French marketing is very different to American marketing – but it is often more effective. In the cut-throat world of the 21st Century, every marketer needs to understand it."

Pensar em francês é pensar o marketing para produtos únicos, de forma diferente da tradição do marketing para produtos da produção em massa, sem alma, sem pátria, um pouco o que por vezes parece um vómito industrial.
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Em vez de começar pelo produto que se quer escoar, começar pela necessidade que quer ser satisfeita.
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Em vez de começar pelo "plástico", começar pela paixão, começar pela autenticidade, começar por uma história, começar pelas pessoas:

"‘This isn’t a brand’ say Anglo-Saxon marketers studying the label of a bottle of St. Emilion.
‘It’s a vineyard.’
They just don’t get it.
The best French brands are so authentic, they don’t look like brands.
And because they don’t look like brands, people prefer them and pay a premium for them."

Gosto sobretudo desta parte:

"In America, a premium brand is one that costs ten percent more than an average brand. Luxury means a little gold on the label. No one likes to produce something that is way out of the reach of the ordinary American. There is something very ‘of the people and for the people’ about American marketing. And indeed the biggest successes of American marketing have been mass marketing:" (Moi ici: Talvez por isto não exista a tal massa crítica de consumidores exigentes e requintados que refiro em "Acerca da paciência estratégica")

...

"A sense of populism has never hindered French marketers. Puritan roots and guilt don’t prevent them from behaving in unashamedly elitist ways and producing items that no ordinary person will ever be able to afford.
A perfume for $1,000?
Voilà Madame!
A Hermès Birkin bag for $15,000?
No problem.
It doesn’t mix well with egalité and fraternité. But it does lead to high margin, sustainable brands. And rich, rich brand values. And hugely committed consumers."

Sim, talvez o marketing tradicional tenha de dar lugar a um outro tipo de marketing sobre clientes que procuram não a massa, mas a individualidade, mas a diferenciação.
...

"French marketers are not so focussed on rational promises. They are more interested in the higher margins available by selling dreams."