In a recent column, where I referred to some of the differences between living in Guyana and living outside, space limitations prevented me from mentioning an importance difference – marketing. Let’s face it; we are simply not good at this stuff here. Fundamental common sense approaches to the marketing and promotion aspects of what we do in Guyana are often totally missing.
Over on the Railway Embankment near Ogle there is a very efficient tyre repair operation; the work is fast and efficient; the guys are very friendly and so are the charges. It’s a place you would want to direct your friends to. If this was a shop in Miami or Montreal, there would be a big sign hanging outside above eye level, readable on both sides. There would be another sign on the front of the building, 15 feet wide. The hanging sign would be illuminated at night; even when the business is closed, they’re recruiting customers. During the day, the guys operating the shop would be wearing T shirts with “Tyre Repair” in big bold lettering.
But here’s the picture on the Embankment: apart from a couple of used tyres parked in front, there is no indication anywhere that this is a tyre repair business. There’s a sign, all right, but it’s located inside the shop, 40 feet from the road, completely invisible from the exterior; you have to actually go into the shop to see it. The workers are wearing ordinary street clothes. You would pass that shop every day and they would never get your tyre business.
Recently my car engine needed some attention, and a friend recommended a good mechanic, but cautioned me that the place is hard to find – you have to turn left at a certain intersection, first right, then another right, and look out for the second house from the corner on your right with a narrow driveway. I’m dubious about finding the place. What’s the name of the business? “I don’t know. There’s no sign.” The mechanic, when I eventually found him via his cellphone directions, is top notch, but I know for a fact his business would benefit greatly from a little attention to marketing.
This comparison I’m making here is one of two extremes: in North America everything is treated as something to be marketed, but in Guyana, time and again, we often let the matter slide almost completely.
Take, for example, what I’ve dubbed the “Foo Phenomenon” surrounding the young Guyanese cricketer who turned an almost certain 20/20 loss for Guyana into a heart-stopping victory, taking the Caribbean championship with two balls to spare. If that had happened in North America, Foo would immediately be recognized as a very marketable product. Practically overnight, the man would be an instant celebrity.
He would be interviewed on our morning TV shows – all of them. There would be a full-page spread on him in the newspapers, complete with baby pictures and comments from his neighbours on “what a wonderful young man he is”. His high school teacher would be seen solemnly proclaiming he knew Foo “had it in him” since Form 2.
And that would be just the beginning. Within a couple days, somebody would launch a Foo web site, or organize some sort of Foo Facebook, and a bar in town would be offering a potent new drink, “The Foo: with one of these you’re guaranteed to score.”
A Hits and Jams producer would come up with a new dance “The Foo Foo” and one of the telecom giants might even launch a “Foo Dance” competition with the best “Foo” dancer winning a blackberry, free phone for 6 months, and a trip to the 20/20 championship in South Africa.
The weekend entertainment paper would carry an interview with Foo’s girl friend (I’m assuming a relationship here) talking about a new line of Foo clothing she’s designing, and some sporting goods company would announce the sale of a new Foo cricket bat with the slogan, “Do like Foo, beat Bajans too.”In every forthcoming match, the media spotlight would be fully on him. The captain would be asked what Foo had for breakfast, and a broadcaster would give us 15 minutes on Foo compared to Rupert Tang Choon, the Chinese Trini who almost made the West Indies team in the 1950s.
None of that happened here. Indeed, apart from a passing comment in one paragraph in the dailies, silence reigned. A friend called me very agitated: “Who is this guy? Why alyou not shouting about him?” The caller was obviously from overseas where marketing is ingrained. I was embarrassed. I had to tell him: “I don’t much about the banna, and I don’t know where to find him; there’s no sign.”
Now I’m waxing a little sardonic here, but I’m sure you get the point: we need to get on board the marketing train more in Guyana; our development would benefit greatly from it. Mind you, if you look around, there are several examples of business units who are already committed to the approach – some of the fast-food places, the telecoms, a couple of the banks, and even niche businesses such as Spads, Gizmos and Gadgets, John Lewis, JR Burgers, etc. But in the overall picture, these are the exceptions. We often don’t go after the customer; we don’t follow one of the tenets of marketing which is to make it easy for the customer to find and buy our product or service.
Mind you, with regard to the Foo phenomenon described above, I have to concede that in the developed world, and in North America in particular, they can go completely overboard in these matters, and it can often get to the point where you don’t want to hear another word about the individual. The recent Lebron James charade regarding which basketball team he would join is an example of marketing overkill; it got so you would switch TV channels the second his face popped up.
But I’m confident young Foo would know better than to fall for those excesses. In the first place, his parents would probably bring him into line with a good twist of the ears. In the second place, anybody cool enough to hit a full toss for six, through the hands of a Bajan on the boundary, would not allow himself to become a media monkey.
As with anything in life, balance is what we’re after, which is to say let’s have some expansive newspaper stories on Jonathan, some interviews on television, and a few comments from his close friends. For now, let’s tread water on the Foo Dance and the website – until he hits another winning six, that is.
