Sharing is a value of the SPICE UP model because it is an intelligent approach.
The time of selling anything to anybody at any price is over! The ideology promoting material possession does not bring happiness. Millennials show us a route for change through the adoption and promotion of new ways to live, to buy and to use, favoring balance and moderation as well as pleasure and dreams. SPICE UP is not a new tool to sell better, it’s a new concept to share smarter! Selling is the result. Durability is the reward.
Sharing your passion is smart and efficient! One of the best examples of this is a Belgian radio station called CLASSIC 21 , founded and directed by Marc Ysaye one of the most highly regarded rock’n roll specialists in the world and himself a musician; this radio program shares its passion for rock, pop and blues. The result is years and years of success and a loyal audience in the extremely competitive global entertainment industry.
Why would we share instead of selling? Isn’t it naïve? That’s a question that I frequently hear in business circles. The answer is simple: millennials think differently. Millennials are the children of babyboomers and babyboomers were the first generation in the post-modern world to have a generous view of the world. “Peace and Love” is not just a slogan; it is a philosophy. Hippies were the first ecologists and they believed in an ideal world of community sharing. They were sharing clothes, houses, herbs and even sexual partners. As always idealists are more or less utopians but what is interesting is that their children adopted a number of these ideas and made them more realistic. Millennials understood that sharing is nice but asking a contribution, let’s say a price, in exchange for a shared asset is fair. So, it’s not about buying and selling, it’s about setting a “fair exchange”.
The AIRBNB business model is a great example of this philosophy. Underutilized real estate assets are shared with travelers. It is not renting, it is sharing. What is the difference? Essentially, no difference but a major difference at the same time. No difference because “renting” is valuing an asset and a major difference because “sharing” is perceived as a sort of generosity. You allow me to use your apartment, it’s nice. You deserve to receive a recompense for your generosity, so I will pay you something. It is a totally different philosophy.
This philosophy leads us away from the mass market crazy selling that harmed our societies so much (and still does). Of course, mass marketing hasn’t disappeared (yet?) but it is great that there are now alternatives. The sharing mindset is now developing more and more. When farmers present their products to locals, they “share” their production. When a young chef is cooking creative cuisine in his small restaurant, he shares his art. When an engineer is launching a ‘start up’ to make a business out of her invention, she shares her creativity. In this context, any project is like art!
Sharing is a cooperative view of relationships. We talk about sharing resources, sharing experience, sharing technology, sharing know how, sharing facilities, sharing people, etc. The old notion of competition was based on “beating” competitors, not cooperating with them… then along came the notion of coopetition, i.e. cooperation with competition. In that respect, being smarter is preferred to being better; increasing the size of the pie is more important than fighting to get a larger piece of it; being creative is more effective than being productive.
Sharing is a value of the SPICE UP model because it is an intelligent approach. It gives you an edge at a time when customers and partners are looking for trust. Giving out is a sign of trust and you’re expecting trust in return. Trust leads to long-term mutual relationships and my view is that marketing is about creating and delivering value to foster a long-term mutual relationship. It can be between a brand and its aficionados; between a supplier and its customers; between a cultural institution and its audience and the like. Be generous, you’ll get it back a hundredfold.
Jean-Pierre Baeyens 