Scarcity and its effect

Seth Godin, one of the present day’s marketing gurus, is the author of one of the most popular blogs in the world.

Was reading his blog today and one of his tip, set my thinking bells tinkering.


* “Scarcity creates fashion. People want something that others can't have.” (Refering to iPhone)

Recollected a conversation I had with a friend from Hyderabad a month ago. Presently owning a BMW does not necessarily put you above your social peers. Because it is no more scarce. Audi is the Zing thing now.

It has happened with Benz also. 7 years back, when Mercedes was just entering Hyderabad, owning any model of Benz put you way above your peers. But slowly Merc was not so scarce with every one’s dad(rarely), uncle or at least having a friend whose uncle owned one. (It automatically becomes as good as your uncle owning one ;) )

So how would it be if Mercedes or BMW played the scarcity game and created an aura around their brand??


* “Give the early adopters a reward. In the case of Apple, I would have made the first 100,000 phones a different color. Then, instead of the first buyer being a hero for ten seconds, he gets to be a hero for a year.”


You can read the whole post here.