Cleanup, Aisle 14.
A not-so-recent trend in marketing: building anticipation in the present for events to take place in the future. The perceivable future, however, is getting further and further away. I call this sort of marketing ‘future groping.’
I think I first noticed this trend in regards to the “holiday aisle” in supermarkets (aka ‘seasonal’). You know—the aisle, often placed somewhere near the pharmaceuticals, which has all the window decorations and themed napkins for the upcoming holiday. This aisle would have you believe that the key to navigating the present was to follow the color of crepe paper ribbons into the future. Red and pink for Valentine’s Day. Green for St. Patrick’s Day. Pastels for Easter. Red, white, and blue for Independence Day. Brown and orange for Thanksgiving. Red and green for xmas. And—not coincidentally, I’m sure—any leftover colors for Hannukah or Kwanza.
The aisle used to be an aisle set aside for one holiday and one holiday only—until supermarket managers everywhere attended future groping seminars. As I got older, I noticed more and more space in that aisle being dedicated to the holiday after the upcoming holiday. By the time I was 12, I think, the present didn’t matter. By 12am on Valentine’s Day, the seasonal aisle was already fully converted to sport St. Patrick’s Day regalia. As if overrun by legions of little Leprechauns in a giant holiday aisle coup, the clover-leafed guerillas killed off all the former holiday’s descendants, exiling them to the Island of Sale Bins just off the coast of the cash registers.
Then that aisle started developing a perma-santa section, which pushed xmas wares to passersby 365 days a year. Then in the late 80’s, someone at the North Pole decided that there wasn’t enough room for two holidays in a supermarket aisle and shuffled all operations off to an xmas-only store. I can’t believe these places stay in business. The xmas store in Portland, Maine made a killing during the summer. In any case, xmas is never more than a click away now, unless you don’t have an internet connection, in which case the nearest inflatable Santa is probably no more than a short drive away. The future is now, my friends. Go buy it.
What spawned this entry, you might ask? Pixar released a teaser trailer for their next film, The Incredibles. This film is due out on November 5. November 5, 2004!
If you weren’t planning on having a child to take to this film, you’ve got about six months to start working on your contribution to Pixar’s box office receipts.
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6 responses
inspoetica
Comment posted at 11:18 on Monday, June 09, 2003
I’ve observed the same thing in my local supermarket…but you know that teaser trailer stuff, they’ve been doing that for a while.
I remember a year before the first LOTR, they were teasing for LOTR TTT and LOTR ROTK. And I wondered, huh? Why?
From a marketing standpoint, in a general sense, it’s a good idea to give the market repeat exposure of your product or service.
I suppose, in a way, seeing a preview for “The Incredibles” this early on creates a spark of interest; then subsequent “exposures” to Pixar’s marketing will fan the flames of anticipation, so that by the time the movie comes out, the hype will be so great, people will blaze into theatres to watch it, the fire under their seats too hot to wait around until it comes out on DVD.
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Comment posted at 18:20 on Monday, June 09, 2003
Pixar is owned by Steve Jobs. Remember the Apple Lisa? Remember early versions of Microsoft Windows. For people from that background, promises years in the pipeline are not novel. Then there’s Arnold, “I’ll be back,” said with the heavy German accent. The Bush family with their decinnial Iraq thing, each time with extended lead-up hype. First time, Stormin’ Norman, this time, Tommy Franks. And you never mention the biggest holidays of modern America, March Madness and Superbowl Sunday. Coca cola has Superbowl bottle cap - ticket promotions almost as far in advance as “Incredibles”. It’s all lead-time Marketing. How far were we into Triumph of Will before the plane landed? Why do touring rock bands have warm-up acts? You want real lead time? The politicians haranguing baby boomers. I just gave Res’ name to the AARP.
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Comment posted at 10:47 on Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Yeah, I know that the super-advance preview has been around for a while. I think the first that I remember was Terminator II, actually.
The upcoming Ang Lee (!) film, The Hulk, debuted its first preview in January of last year, I think.
In the case of the LOTR, though, I was quite happy about the advance trailer.
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Comment posted at 12:23 on Tuesday, June 10, 2003
resonance wrote: “In the case of the LOTR, though, I was quite happy about the advance trailer. “
I was going to point out how selective I am about this. If I see things hyped in advance that I care nothing about watching (eg, Hulk or any superhero movie, any Terminator sequel, anything whose title is partly spelled with numerals instead of words like 2Fast, 2Furious), then I get all crotchety about it.
On the other hand, that LOTR trailer successfully staved off the nervous breakdown I was about to have if I didn’t catch a peep of the movie I knew was being filmed.
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Comment posted at 12:32 on Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Indeed—well put, bakerm45!
Apple’s QuickTime Movie Trailers page is a wellspring for both hope and despair.
Most often despair, though.
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Flash
Comment posted at 07:24 on Sunday, June 29, 2003
I have worked in the Supermarket industry for over 13 years, the last 4 in Marketing, and this phenomenon has always amazed me. It’s interesting, though, to see that the market supports this kind of thing. Stop by Wal*Mart in the next few weeks, you’ll see that they have their back to school stuff up already (it’s up by the end of June). Who buys back to school stuff in June? Evidently, enough people to warrant a special flyer and section in the store…
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