Soap

A funny thing happened today.  I received a box of soap samples from a factory in the south of France.  There were several folks around when I opened the box:  men, women, and a gaggle of teenage girls.  

The women gravitated to the citrus-y soaps; the men to the lavender soaps; and the teenagers to the floral soaps--but only the ones that were wrapped in upscale, hip packages.  The women and men cared more about the scents than they did about the packaging.  The teenagers really liked focusing on the visual appeal of the packages and the heady, sticky-sweet smell of the floral soaps.

It reminded me that marketing a product--any product--is half the battle.