"The Long Tale"

Led by Anita Elberse over at the Harvard Review websites, an inconclusive debate has been raging over the existence of "The Long Tale" precipitated by the book by that name by Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine. The discussion and rebuttal research is much about the music and book marketplaces.

Despite the economic downturn, marketers continue to cater solely to the young demographic. With boomers still in control of of 1/2 of all discretionary spending, the Long Tail has to happen - it is just a matter of putting customer and product together, and as Anderson states, the Internet does that well.

Large corporations - particularly in music, movies and fashion, no matter what the age of the executive, continue to produce promotions and products that appeal to the under 40 set. Movies are a succession of chase scenes and formulaic chick flicks. Even the venerable Bond brand has been turned into one long incomprehensible chase scene. The boomer demographic has "been there, done all that." Again, a Long Tale has to appear, but how is it possible, if nothing else is being made by the major players.

I have finally witnessed how this will work in movies - in the same old-fashioned way that indie films have always been made. The long tale doesn't need studios or big budgets to make delightfully entertaining movies - after a lifetime of viewing subtitles, now they are even in English. Last week I went to see Béla Fleck, Throw Down Your Heart, the famous banjo player's search for the roots of his instrument in Africa. Although Sony had originally committed to the film, they wanted star power, so Fleck ended up self-funding his film. With today's technology self-funding is more possible than it has ever been in the past, allowing for a personal story to be told without corporate compromise. Every seat in the theater was taken, mostly by boomers, with only a few young groupy musicians in the crowd. I am happy to discover that the Long Tale holds the potential to entertain boomers for years to come.

What does this have to do with interior finishes? While it is true that the bulk of the marketplace will continue to want exactly the same thing -ie. cherry cabinets and verde granite one day, the "As Good as it Gets" look in kitchens the next - these very items quickly become commodities with hyper-competitive prices offered in the marketplace. It continues to be important to find those niche Long Tale items that fit your customer base and marketplace to appeal to all your potential customers.

PS: While leafing through a July shelter magazine, I realized that we have moved on from the "Good as it Gets" kitchen - painted cabinets with black granite top to the impossible to maintain white painted cabinets with white carrara marble countertops. Every single kitchen featured in the July issue showed that exact combination. Even I, who saw this coming years ago, am surprised at how strong this trend towards the use of carrara marble on kitchen counters has become. I put carrara marble on a bath vanity 20 years ago and have regretted it ever since. One knife cut into the best of sealers combined with one spill will leave quite a mess. I can't recommend it to anyone that would be upset by stains on a counter. For a similar look use Corian® Rain Cloud instead, (Image above top) a product that I had recommended for several years before its 2008 introduction.