Creating Demand for a product by telling kids to stay in school!

Mr. T is a smart guy. Not only did he know that school is important (cause he kept telling me) but he also new that there is no room for jibba jabba in a conversation.

So why is Mr. T making me think about demand generation?

Honestly?

He isn't but like the late Lou Rawls, It is better to have Mr. T and not need him then not have Mr. T and need him.

Anyway, now that I have that out of my system I can talk about what this post is really about.......product demand.

What happens if you have the absolute best product on the shelves and no one cares?

Wanna know?

The answer is not much....not much sales...not much profit and not much interest.

So how do you create demand?

Well there are bunches of good ways that have worked time and time again but that is not what this post is about........this post is about an idea I had on how to create demand a brand new way!

Parents all around the world use incentives to get their kids to co-operate and "listen". I know this because I am one of them.....and it got me thinking if this could be "productized" and I think it can.

So here is my idea on how to create demand for a teen/tween oriented middle to high end consumer item......make it a school based incentive. Think about this. What if there was a cell phone or ipod/mp3 player that could only be purchased after you meet a school related goal (Attendance or Grades etc). Students would be exposed to your messaging all year or for an extended time creating more then demand but desire! In simple terms you are letting the school market your product directly to the target market the same way they would a school trip and at the same time this strategy is guaranteed to get major media attention. Your company will be thought of as a community builder since you will be rewarding students for their hard work and while the “exclusive” product will not be available to the general public your other products will!

Sure some people will object to this and see this as crass commercialism but if you could work out a beneficial partnership where the school benefits with something (books/uniforms/trips/whatever a school needs) you could create a slow buzz for a product while also giving an exclusive “coolness” to something that would otherwise just be another product in a category.

Sure there is risk to this but I see this as a calculated risk with a HUGE reward.....kinda like casing a leprechaun.....or a guy who wear 30 lbs of gold around his neck!

-saul