Marketing Rule 16A:  Crap sells, as long as it’s really expensive Crap.

The recent recall in the pet food industry has caused a lot of people to think about what goes into those cans.  Menu Foods – the company responsible for the faulty product – works as a sub-contractor for many of the industry’s pet food giants.  While scrolling through the list of recalled varieties, a lot of people were shocked to learn that the expensive brands are made in the same factories – and perhaps with similar specifications – as the bargain basement brands.  Which means their designer labradoodles, feasting on high-priced Iams and Eukanuba, are eating essentially the same Crap as the junkyard dog up the street.  They’re just paying a lot more for it.

Rule 16A has a converse, Rule 16B:  Don’t discount, or it looks like Crap.  For example, Anheuser-Busch launched Budweiser Select as a top-shelf premium beer.  Made from a recipe of “two row barley, impeccably roasted specialty malts, and a hand-picked blend of the finest American and Bavarian hops,” Bud Select has been supported by a monster ad campaign, featuring Jay-Z and Danica Patrick, on the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards.  They figure everyone will “trade up” for a promise of higher quality.  The trouble is, the marketing geniuses at A-B gave Select the same price point as regular Bud.  So hoity-toity consumers have seen Budweiser Select for what it is:  Crap.  Sales are in the crapper.

Yep, a Cadillac is way better than a Chevy.  Martha Stewart makes a real nice can of paint.  And L’Oreal costs more, but heck, you’re worth it.

All of which got us thinking.  We’ve decided that from now on, we’ll be charging $5.99 for each week’s installment of the quick Sliver.  We think you’ll like it better that way.  And you’ll tell your colleagues, “Those guys at quickSilver write some REALLY interesting Crap.”