Marketing is key

I just returned from Orlando, where I successfully tried out for Jeopardy. It was a wonderful experience, and now I just wait for the call. Sometime within the next year, I will, most likely, be called to go to L.A. for a taping of the show. No guarantees.... As I was walking around downtown Orlando, yesterday, I came upon the 1st Presbyterian Church of God. Now I'm certain I was in Orlando, yesterday, because that is where Southwest airline dropped me off. As certain of that as anything else anyway.

I'm also certain that there is a 1st Presbyterian Church of God in Miami, and one in New Orleans, and one in just about any town you can think of. Don't get me wrong, for us Jews there are synagogues with the same name that are not franchises of one another. I just googled Beth Israel and came up with numerous congregations of different types in different states. This is to show that it is not a problem with the Presbyterians. Sometimes, there is a name that more than one group wants, that is good for marketing whatever your product is.

For instance, for many years there have been two public figures that have used the moniker Sting. Does it hinder Sting's ability to make a living that Sting might be doing a show nearby? As you can see the singer and the professional wrestler both market the name, and they are both very successful. For quite a while the World Wildlife Fund and the World Wrestling Federation both used WWF in their advertising. That is not to say which one utilized animals; both groups successfully used just that WWF, until quite recently.

Figuring out how to market to your base is key to any public endeavor. Those people in the religion business figured out years ago that being the 1st Church of something was more appealing than being the 5th Church of something. That does not necessarily mean that the product is better or worse, just a decision on marketing the message.

For years, I've heard that Betamax was the better videotape technology. The Sega dreamcast might be a better game system than Nintendo or Sony. I will not dispute any of this. Two more for good measure Jeopardy, and the Democratic Party ideas are better....

That does not change the fact that Wheel of Fortune and the Republican Party are more popular.... By the way, Alex Trebek has taped episodes while he was not wearing pants.