Thursday, June 25, 2009

Why not pick what many people like?

I'm not sure if this is stating the obvious - but is a reason certain foods are typically available and selected because there are a lot of people who like them?

At a recent conference an attendee handed out single-packs of Reese's peanut butter cups - with a sticker with his Twitter name. I've also received weird candy in the past that maybe other attendees may find they really like ... or they'd ignore it, or dislike it.

Recently I checked into a hotel after midnight after traveling for many hours. Awaiting me in my room was a note from the manager - and a chalkboard with a display of mole salami, a jar of roasted tomatoes and crackers tied in twine - along with the explanation of what I was looking at. I didn't expect anything in my room, but when there was something there I starting dreaming of "typical" stuff - cheese/crackers (sans twine), grapes, chocolate dipped strawberries or even chocolate chip cookies. Not tomatoes in a jar. (Although it was really nice of them.)

Is a quirky pick a good idea to show uniqueness, or is there a reason to go with a likely sure thing? Maybe conferences have a lot of chicken and beef, but do you really want to see if lamb is popular or not? Or why pick two weird salad dressing choices instead of fan favorites?

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