Ya know, I sit down every day to write this column, and I think about how what I write might affect those who read this column. Primarily, I focus on trading/investing, but life issues are certainly part of my thinking about what to write. Yes, I take my role seriously, perhaps too seriously. Sometimes I receive feedback from readers who bring me back to a place that speaks to the reality that whatever “serious” point I have to make, there just might be something more valuable in the column for that day. The question below is a perfect example. I must admit, the question made me laugh at myself and at the absolute wondrous nature of people in general.
In your article of 6/28/10 “Monday, Just Another Day?” you mentioned a coffee cup in a commercial ‘It’s Monday – only 4 days till Friday’. Do you have any idea where to find that cup?
Unfortunately, I don’t know where to find that cup, but I would venture to say, it is an excellent research project, as I suspect that a place to purchase it exists somewhere on this planet. The message and the construct are simply too clever not to be exploited somewhere. In fact, I suspect someone bought the cup for the commercial, or someone had the cup made for the commercial. Either way, unless some digital wizard digitized the cup into the commercial, it exists…
Okay, so I couldn’t resist … I just spent a few minutes doing a little research for the cup. I didn’t actually find the specific cup, but I did find a site (http://www.zazzle.com/friday+mugs) that sells all manner and form of “Friday” oriented sayings for coffee mugs. Understand, this site is quite extensive, so I was not able to comb through all of the mugs for the specific mug desired here, but finding this site is a hopeful sign that the cup does exist, and if it is not found on this site, there are others out there, I am sure.
Now, if the cup does not exist on this site, or any other for that matter, say, if the cup is a virtual cup created simply to make the commercial interesting, then I think there is an entrepreneurial opportunity here for the person who wrote the question, or anyone else for that matter. Think about it this way – if the makers of the commercial thought the clever saying would appeal to a mass audience, they probably came to that conclusion based on tons of sophisticated market research. After all, they spend lots of money making these commercials, so they want to get the message right, right? Going even deeper, if they missed the boat completely on the underlying message, meaning, the overt message about the Monday/Friday thing had more appeal than the “buy this product” message, then the entrepreneurial opportunity is greater still, as a mass audience is now out looking for this cup that may or may not exist. Given that you found the message appealing, above and beyond anything of “worth” I had to say, I suggest the latter thought just might be correct – people want this cup. So, if you cannot find it anywhere, have it made and sell it on the site mentioned above, or make your own site to sell just this cup, and this cup alone. I see millions coming your way …
How’s that for serious?
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
