About 9 o’clock and I got hungry, again. I sprint to the kitchen, catch my breath – and begin the quest. A hunt really. It didn’t last long. One glance in the pantry and I immediately knew what I wanted. NACHOS.
Simple. Tasty. Memorable. What’s not to like? Start with a great chip. Here in Texas, that ain’t hard. Grab the shredded cheddar out of the refrigerator. Snag that jar of jalapenos and let the culinary crafting begin.
In less than 10 minutes I was swilling down water like a man who’d been in the desert for 3 days straight. I love jalapenos, but I made the mistake of scarfing down more than a handful as I prepared the nachos. They have a cumulative power that almost forced me to connect my mouth to the faucet. Good though. Very good.
I could have gone with the ever famous mac ‘n cheese, but by the time I thought about it – I was already in full blown nacho commitment. The ring was already in place and I had already said, “I do.” Too late to turn back now. Full throttle forward. It was a decision I didn’t regret. I never do.
During that late night kitchen creativity session I thought about marketing.
Good. Simple.
Hot dogs. Hamburgers. Corn dogs. Mac ‘n cheese. Nachos. French fries.
Think about these things, not for their nutritional value, but for their simplicity. And their goodness.
Don’t mistake their success with speed. Mac ‘n cheese may not be fast. Or french fries.
They’re good, simple and memorable. We crave them.
I started thinking about how complicated people make their offers…and their marketing. We think that if we keep stacking on the value, then we’ll make our offers more compelling. That ain’t necessarily true.
TV Guide
I’m old enough to remember a time when we had only 3 channels on our TV. ABC. NBC. CBS.
My grandparents subscribed to the TV Guide. There were always a few feature articles, but they didn’t subscribe for the articles. They got it for the schedule. To know when shows would be airing. Simple. Good.
Fact is, there was a time when TV Guide was more valuable than all 3 major networks combined!
Keep It Simple, Stupid
The other day I happened across some cooking show. Well, the guy whipped up a dish claiming it was super easy. Sure enough, within 10 minutes he whipped up a terrific looking recipe. But right off the bat, he’s got a tray of ingredients. Lots of them. And 10 of them were things I’d never heard of. Now, I’m not a chef, but I had NEVER heard of 10 of these items. You could turn me loose in a grocery store and I’d have no clue where to go find those items.
Of course, I did just confess that I raced to the kitchen and whipped up a plate of nachos!
People want simple. They want easy. And even if easy isn’t really easy, we can at least make it easy to grasp. Easy to understand.
Give me a brick of Velvetta, a can of Rotel, a bowl big enough to hold it all, a microwave and a bag of chips. Then give me about 30 minutes to get miserable. 😀
It’s great. Simple. Easy. Effective for filling a hungry stomach.
The next time you’re crafting an offer, think about it. Don’t be tempted to stack on the value. We don’t always have to offer a BONUS. Just offer me a great big order of crispy french fries and I’m good to go.
