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Camille Paglia on sexuality

"Pursuit and seduction are the essence of sexuality. It's part of the sizzle."

Now I've seen everything. In their effort to pursue and seduce us, Wrigley have just released a product with the brand name "new." Any way, that's what I believed when I purchased it. But then I peeled off the cellophane wrapper and discovered that it's actually called "5." (I think I like the name "new" better.  It's so silly, it's a conversation starter.).

Wrigley's corporate press release calls 5 "a groundbreaking, new sugar-free stick gum with mouth-freshening, long-lasting flavors combined with invigorating sensations 'you can feel as you chew.'" Frankly, it tastes like ordinary cinnamon-flavored gum to me.  And that's the problem with today's tsunami of new products; there's a lot of sizzle, but not much meat.

Sexuality is a powerful attractor, but it's not enough to sustain a relationship.  Relationships require reciprocity; I'll buy your gum (again) if you give me "x" (a.k.a value).  Discovering and delivering the elusive "x," and in a way that can not be easily duplicated, is how brand success is created in today's hypercompetitive marketplace.

"But it's just a pack of gum."  Indeed, and it's just a cup of coffee; it's just a pair of running shoes; it's just a phone; it's just water in a plastic bottle; it's just a motorized vehicle; etc. But creative people have figured out how to uniquely bundle value into each and every one of them.

Face it. Today's marketplace is nothing more than a cultural game, with the objective being to take "just something," make it - and keep it - special to one's audience, and then pursue and seduce them. It really doesn't matter what the product or service is, since we (marketplace participants) are all in some kind of trance any way.  There is very little clear, rational thought taking place.

Couldn't you make the case that we should be brewing and enjoying our coffee at home with our loved ones; wearing $15 sneakers (the NBA star Stephon Marbury does); leaving our phones at home attached to the wall like we used to, instead of wearing them like six-guns (because we may need them at any minute); filling our own plastic bottles with tap water, instead of filling landfills; and walking everywhere to eliminate obesity and our dependence on foreign oil? Sure you can. But we simply don't think about it that way.

In fact, we don't "think" much about what we do, or don't do, in the marketplace.  Simply consider "The Simpsons Movie;" a hand-drawn cartoon about yellow-hued people who lampoon the very trance we are all in.  It raked in $71.9 million to debut as the top movie last week, and opened strongly in 70 foreign markets as well.  $71.9 million just last week!  And yet, the same citizens who shelled out $7 per ticket (plus God knows how much for buckets of sugar water and faux-buttered popcorn) are having a difficult time funding their public school systems.

I'll say it again (and probably again): this is not your father's marketplace. The days of "make and sell" are over.  There's simply way too much stuff!  Instead, today's marketers must "sense, respond, pursue, and seduce."  Sense what your audience needs to make them happier and feel better about themselves; respond by creating a unique bundle of value that provides that enhanced experience and identity; pursue them when and where they're most receptive to your offering; and seduce them with engaging and relevant communication. Simple? Yes. Easy? You tell me.

Posted August 1, 2007
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