February 4th, 2009 in There’s a recession on, right? Here’s how it’s playing out in my life.
My friends will tell you I’m not the world’s most enthusiastic shopper, but my laptop and briefcase were stolen the other day, and after the initial anguish I got that little thrill of being able to acquire some new stuff.
First, the laptop. Did I think about changing brands? Not on your life. I’ve been lusting after the new MacBook Pro since I first saw them machining the aluminium “unibody” in the video on this page. Now I’m typing on one. I know the insurance company paid, but do I care about the price? Not on your life. I know 95% of people disagree with me, but we fanboys say people work on PCs, they create on Macs. And they’re beautiful (I’d love a MacBook Air). I have my little rationalisations, of course. Macs are good value ‘cos they come loaded with everything you need, but really I don’t know or care.
And guess what? The time when Apple nearly went broke was when the bean-counters took over and created the Macintosh LC. Great machines, Queensberry had several, but they were ordinary. And LC stood for “Low Cost”.
Second, the laptop bag. I forget I’m in my 60s until I look in the mirror so I kind of wanted a bag like Danny’s to replace my heavy, corporate Samsonite briefcase. But you know, I’m not 26 any more…
So Heather and I traipsed around town with my beautiful laptop in a crappy canvas satchel looking for something better.
I could have paid a sixth or even a tenth of what I did. I could have bought something I quite liked for a third of the price I actually paid.
Did I? Not on your life. I bought what I really wanted, a soft black leather Jost satchel similar to this.
These aren’t earth-shattering or even particularly extravagant transactions, just a couple of the gazillion little buying decisions being made round the globe every minute. Do you really think everyone is going to downgrade to cheap and nasty?
What is going to be harder is selling something for top dollar that is actually compromised.
As Johanne said, don’t do cheap, do valuable.
I’ll drop the other shoe tomorrow.
Cheers, Ian
PS Shame they didn’t get my iPhone. I would have loved a G2 like Stephen’s 
That’s the power of owning a lovemark.
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