Virginie Michelet today
takes us to the side of the givers ... maybe her article will encourage us to
read the great anthropologists again!
(Thanks to Alph B. Seny,
for the photo!)
A gift creates confidence and reciprocity. Giving something, affirms a
position.
The first to have understood this in the beauty industry world is Estée
Lauder, with its "A Gift with a Purchase" offer, making it one of the
leading companies in the field, controlling up to 45% of the cosmetics business
in department stores in the USA (1998), and emulated by the entire profession. That was in 1948. This approach,
it is certain, proved to be a catalyst for such abundance that those who
thought they would just "run a nice little business" are still not
quite over it.
Broadly speaking, I am convinced that there are the believers and the
non-believers. Is this a matter of
education of the leaders, (we can imagine just for laughs) whose poker-playing
fathers with questionable resources, have traumatized for life? Or a question of cost control zealots on the
warpath? Or a matter of corporate philosophy? Or simply a matter of having
understood that allowing people to dream is also giving of oneself or one's
product in one way or in another? Or, again, a question of knowing what luxury
is? I would like someone, some day, to substantiate
with hard facts and figures, a comparison between those who give and those who
are sparing, just to prove that what I am saying here is scientifically
relevant.
In the field of journalism, the same principle applies, and to an even
greater extent: Journalists receive invitations and other little extras that
impart glamour to a profession whose members, for the most part, rarely travel
on roads paved with gold.
While visiting the Beyond Beauty
exhibition the other day, I was once again struck by the indifference of some
to whom I said I was a journalist, while others greeted me with open arms and
immediately invited me to try out their products.
In times of crisis, it is often said, you need to know how to use any
wood for fire, and show great creativity.
Since we are on the subject of crisis, I wonder which companies will
come out unscathed… the tightwads or the generous? All bets are open.
So…? So, I say, it is just a question of
mentality.
The winner is, without
doubt, the company from the west coast of the United States which, no sooner
had I glanced at one of their products, it was graciously offered to me. It was a bath mitt with
an unusual texture. I learned a little
later that a fashion designer, French and well-known, had asked them one day to
make one according to his design ... Who?
No matter, the glove is original, the material extraordinary (I will let
you discover it on www.supracor.com), and the welcome most pleasant. A
typically Californian company, you say?
Certainly. But I was also well
received by a French company selling organic products that were original too,
at very competitive prices (www.planetebleue-ecologie.com/site/accueil/).
