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It’s not often that the videogames industry gets to hear a
marketing point-of-view from a manufacturer’s rep’s perspective
… but I’d like to share with you a very valuable lesson I
learned about 30 years ago …
Did it ever occur to you just how many abbreviations we use during our
daily communications? Abbreviations have become a normal part of our
grammar. In only a few minutes I was able to list over 50 … I’m
sure you can think of many, many more besides these:
PS2, IEMA, E3, GS, EB, XB, GBA, ESRB, RE4, PSP, DS, THQ, O3, EA, .com, www,
PC, RP, GTA, MMX, FYE, ESA, VJ, MMORPG, TRU, CPU, GC, MHz, MTV, 360, WWE,
IGN, RYL, T, E, M, DOA, MTV, VH1, DSL, USB, CD, DVD, DDR, VHS, HDTV, SD,
MIDI, 3D, FPS, SKU, UPC, EDI, RAM, ROM … the list is practically
endless. (Were you able to identify them all?) Just last week. I sent an
e-mail to someone that read, “We reviewed everything with EB and O3
at E3.”
So what’s my point, you might ask?
The lesson I learned happened on my very first day of work as a radio
salesman for Alexander’s Department Store in the Bronx. Expecting
large crowds, we were all asked to arrive early so we could pre-write sales
receipts for our very exciting promotion. Alexander’s was the first
retailer in the area to offer an AM/FM (7-transistor) pocket radio for
$9.99!
The doors opened and the crowds rushed in. My very first customer was a
petite, elderly lady who handed me her old pocket radio and asked me to
explain the differences between hers and the unit on sale. I pointed out
some obvious differences.
“The new model is smaller than yours,” I explained. “It
also operates on a 9-V battery, which has a longer life. However, the
biggest and most important difference is that your radio is only AM but the
one on sale is AM and FM!” At that point she looked up at me, and,
almost in tears, she gasped, “Thank you for changing my life!”
Totally confused, I asked her to explain.
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