The article originates from What are some examples of great marketing?
Summary
In the 1970s, Japan’s economy was booming and Nestle was looking for a way to invade Japan’s drinking market with its coffee. But Japanese loved tea instead of coffee. Nestle tested the market before jumping in. After a complex survey, they draw a conclusion that Japanese loved coffee. Then coffee hit the market with a blast. But things went against their will.
Faced with this dilemma, Nestle invited Clotaire Rapaille to market for them, who once succeeded in marketing for Jeep’s latest models which helped Jeep recover from a failing design of the headlights by just changing headlights shape from square to round to make them look like a horse’s eyes which satisfied consumers’ tastes.
Clotaire Rapaille believed customers can’t tell you what they really want and the real desires that drove humans were unconscious ones. He found that Japanese had no connection with coffee from all age groups. So he suggested Nestle supplied coffee candy to Japanese kids. Coffee gradually sneaked into Japanese people’s lives and now Japan has been the fourth biggest coffee consumption country in the world.
Response
I really favor Clotaire Rapaille’s idea “people can’t tell you what they really want”. Customers only vote for your products by their buying behaviors instead of their words. No objection doesn’t represent they agree.
Connection is important. Pushing one product to a whole new market is rather dangerous. Establishing the connection with the target customers should go before pushing the products which calls training the market.
I’ve been a salesman over 4 months and I gradually realize the importance of establishing connections with customers. I once pushed our company’s products to customers directly. Of course, I got 100% rejection. And now I’m trying to connect with customers softly.
