Just read an interesting article, Artisan Bakers Prosper in Low-Carb World. As people figure out that Bimbo white bread makes them go blimpo, they’re also learning that real bread made from real ingredients by real bakers like Red Hen Baking can be something else altogether. Something really good, in fact. Says Gina Piccolino of the Bread Bakers Guild of America:
[Artisan Bakers have] taken the time to educate customers on what it is they are actually buying when they’re buying artisan products… Multigrain, whole-grain, whole-wheat kinds of products are good for you.
There’s a lesson here for all of us trying to create winning products in the 21st century. Gone is the day where brilliant packaging and glossy advertising wrapped around a mediocre product create winning offerings. No, now people want Acme Walnut Levain instead of WonderBread. They want a soulful Mazda 3 instead of a Ford Focus. They want a burrito from Andales, not Taco Bell.
The market winners of today are those products which stand on their intrinsic merit alone, not on what their creators say we should think about them. We the consuming populace are the final arbiters of quality and we want great stuff created by product crazies who couldn’t – and wouldn’t – be doing anything else.
Perhaps also going back to the time when the identity and character of the creator matters as much as the output. Even if you can’t distinguish one wine from the other, the fact that you visited the winery where the wine you are currently drinking was made matters to you. Even if you can knock off Tommy Hilfigger clothes, they still aren’t the same. Also reminds me of a Pace picante sauce commercial where a cowboy looks at the side of a bottle of sauce and says, “This stuff’s made in New Jersey !!” Another cowboy says, “Get a rope.”