Pi-Consulting

The average American uses 1,880 cubic meters (yes, cubic meters) of water per year, over double the average of OECD countries. This is partly because America seems to have more of the stuff, using only 19% of its annually available water resources. (Source: OECD).

Since the early 1990’s, America’s average bra size has jumped from 34B to 36C. Lingerie company executives mostly attribute this to dietary habits, though surgical breast implants in the USA have increased significantly over the same period, clearly a contributory factor. (Sources: New York Times, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery).

Sometimes a whole product sector mutates as a result of fallout from a deliberate marketing ploy. Lessons can invariably be learned.

The tequila story is one such parable for marketers, one of those examples of how, if you listen very carefully, you can actually hear the consumer talking. He/she will probably tell you when you’re drifting off-track and what to do about it, provided you (a) read your market research – sounds a bit like “eat your greens”, doesn’t it? – and (b) avoid the fatal temptation of assuming that the consumer is an impressionable idiot who will buy pretty much anything if your advertising tells them enough times that they want it. To update the famous words of David Ogilvy, “The consumer is not a moron; he — or she — is your Significant Other”. (Nothing if not politically correct, this website). (more…)

The average American will order a double cheeseburger and large fries, then virtuously pick a diet soft drink to wash it down with. (Source: Simmons)

The law of averages states that, if you are standing with one foot encased in a block of ice and the other foot in a bucket of scalding hot water, you should in theory be perfectly comfortable.

Dangerous things, averages, particularly since they have a habit of obscuring more truths than they reveal, and masking contradictions. (more…)