Quote:
Originally Posted by Tombstoner
But Andrea-- if they weren't expensive would you really want them? Seriously, the whole cachet of most of these brands is the fact that they are prestige objects that not everyone can afford. I stayed at a hotel that liberally passed out Ferragamo toiletries, I squirreled them all away to bring back to my wife who I thought would be thrilled, but she took a sniff, pronounced them "French whore house" quality (no...don't ask me how she knows what French whore houses smell like) and threw them away. The point is, lots of products are only desirable because they are exclusive.
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Tombstoner,
It's the exclusivity principle. I have some friends in another city who were on the board of a distinguished older country club. About 25 years ago, it was fading a little because the membership was getting older. They needed new blood,so they started offering these great deals. They dropped the initiation and dues several times, but were still getting little response. At one point they were down to $2,500. Then somebody had the brilliant idea to
quintuple the fees, and and suddenly people were beating down the doors to get in. Within six months they had a waiting list, and today it costs $110K to join, if you're willing to wait three years.
Steve Rubell had the same idea back in the 70s. I remember the lines of people snaking around the block trying to get in Studio 54, when you could walk right into other clubs on the same block. People wanted to get in because they couldn't.