God Eat God World
Aimless meanderings of the mind are quite frequent. But we seldom take the trouble to pen it down. Last night after my third high stimulating catalyst (read:joint) I came up with an idea.
Lets assume a monopolistic economy where we have a product called God.In a monopolistic set up there exists product differentiation, hence we have different brands of the same product. i.e. Allah, God, Bhagwan, Farohar.Lets also assume that like Car insurance, membership to any one such organisation is mandatoy for every individual. This would ensure demand for the product. Given, there exists a product and a demand for the same, there will surely mushroom profit making companies/religion, who will vie for market share. Soon these companies would try to out do each other in shoving their product down the hapless consumers throat. Just like the Cokes and the Pepsis of the world, we will see the Hindu ltd. and the Islam ltd. trying to gain maximum customers allegiance.
In this business model consumers will buy memberships to these companies in exchange of goodies. Much the same way a person buys scrips in hope of the dividend.This brings me to the crucial pooint. To make their product sought after, they would have to load their products with attractive features. So Islam Pub Ltd. allows 4 marriages, Hindu Ltd. offers the maximum number of products (Gods) under one brand umbrella and the Christian ltd. would market serenity of the mind.An average consumer is smart and hence will not be lured by this alone. So the profit making companies work hard to better their pdts. Lets say they also have emergency help feature, family support feature, councelling feature.etc. There might also exist an option of premium membership will further benefits, something like a free upgrade to the business class 3 times a year. Also, this could promise wedding and similar social event planners The only catch for the customer is that each membership is mutually exclusive. So he will have to choose hard before he makes a final purchase. This rules out impulse purchase problems.
Companies would spend fortunes to create brand awareness and recall. So we will witness pamphlets, posters, huge sign boards proclaiming the virtues of the different brands/gods. The memberships would attract a joining fee and each year there would be a renewal fee on renewal of membership. Attrition fear would compel the companies to keep loading their brands with better feature and making the customer experience enriching.Market segmentation is inevitable, hence there would be demographic and age speciific brands. So while kids would flock to Hindu Pub Ltd. with the popularity of the Hanuman cartoon, teenagers would welcome christianity to enjoy the benevolence of St Cupid.
The scope is endless, and as the market matures the consumers will pay for tangible benefits and the abstruse aspect of God would fade into obivion. I have a feeling this would be better than present. What about you?
Lets assume a monopolistic economy where we have a product called God.In a monopolistic set up there exists product differentiation, hence we have different brands of the same product. i.e. Allah, God, Bhagwan, Farohar.Lets also assume that like Car insurance, membership to any one such organisation is mandatoy for every individual. This would ensure demand for the product. Given, there exists a product and a demand for the same, there will surely mushroom profit making companies/religion, who will vie for market share. Soon these companies would try to out do each other in shoving their product down the hapless consumers throat. Just like the Cokes and the Pepsis of the world, we will see the Hindu ltd. and the Islam ltd. trying to gain maximum customers allegiance.
In this business model consumers will buy memberships to these companies in exchange of goodies. Much the same way a person buys scrips in hope of the dividend.This brings me to the crucial pooint. To make their product sought after, they would have to load their products with attractive features. So Islam Pub Ltd. allows 4 marriages, Hindu Ltd. offers the maximum number of products (Gods) under one brand umbrella and the Christian ltd. would market serenity of the mind.An average consumer is smart and hence will not be lured by this alone. So the profit making companies work hard to better their pdts. Lets say they also have emergency help feature, family support feature, councelling feature.etc. There might also exist an option of premium membership will further benefits, something like a free upgrade to the business class 3 times a year. Also, this could promise wedding and similar social event planners The only catch for the customer is that each membership is mutually exclusive. So he will have to choose hard before he makes a final purchase. This rules out impulse purchase problems.
Companies would spend fortunes to create brand awareness and recall. So we will witness pamphlets, posters, huge sign boards proclaiming the virtues of the different brands/gods. The memberships would attract a joining fee and each year there would be a renewal fee on renewal of membership. Attrition fear would compel the companies to keep loading their brands with better feature and making the customer experience enriching.Market segmentation is inevitable, hence there would be demographic and age speciific brands. So while kids would flock to Hindu Pub Ltd. with the popularity of the Hanuman cartoon, teenagers would welcome christianity to enjoy the benevolence of St Cupid.
The scope is endless, and as the market matures the consumers will pay for tangible benefits and the abstruse aspect of God would fade into obivion. I have a feeling this would be better than present. What about you?
posted by Debopriya at 12:04 pm
2 Comments:
Though I enjoyed a lot reading the contents of this piece, but it took a totally different perspective altogether when i read that the writer wrote it after what she calls "joints"! I must say that it is very interesting to "watch" a mind literally "FLY" through the written words! Though my knowledge of economics and its intrinsic theories is directly proportioal to that of Einstein's knowledge of cultures and customs of Santhals in Eastern India, I think that I more or less understood the points, mainly due to the lucid language of the writer! I agree with most of the points but with the conclusion I don't and I believe that in whatever plate you choose to eat a 'thing' like religion, its going to create troubles for the stomach, though thats perfectly a personal opinion! But I applaude the effort of the writer in any case in trying to give a solution for a difficult problem in such wonderful terms in her very own personal way (that is through "joints") and we hope that more "joints" like this will bring more interesting topics like this! Till that, lemme have a shot at those "joints" myself! Amen...!
Joints tend to have this potent effect...i like your post...creative thinking out of poison...cool!
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