I was running on the treadmill the other day and there was a music video that mentioned Betamax videos. Now that stirred my memory cauldron!

Many of you reading this will have no idea what Betamax is or VHS for that matter, but on the flip side, many of you will know what either or both are.

When I was a kid back in the ’70s in England we had a TV that had 3 channels to watch: BBC 1, BBC 2 & ITV and… there was no remote control!

The ’80s saw the launch of Channel 4 and the introduction of video recorders. Our family had a Betamax (owned by Sony) video machine. VHS (owned by JVC) was another brand that entered the market and was inferior in quality to Betamax. However, VHS had a stronger marketing campaign and within a few years, Betamax was obsolete! Fast forward several years and VHS is now obsolete too!

So why do I share this story?

Firstly, I was fondly reminded of life in the ’80s, how videos were the height of technology and we waited six months or more for movies that were screened at the cinema to be released on video! We had video shops where the latest releases were available and sometimes you would wait weeks for your turn to hire a popular movie! Instant gratification was not readily available in the world of technology!

Secondly, to note how the marketing of the inferior product captured the market eventually taking over the video world.

In this case, VHS gained market and profit share, but we (consumers) were blindsided by strong marketing campaigns and conceded to the inferior product! I suppose back then we didn’t have the researching capabilities like Google and therefore, the ‘on point’ VHS marketing won the day!

In our world full of consumerism, we can sometimes lose sight of quality and the small person and we get swallowed into the glitz and glamour of clever advertising. I know I have been guilty of that!

In summary:
Marketing = Money/Profit
Quality = Value

This is not always the case, but as the saying goes “you get what you pay for!”

Pink wishes

Nic x

Please note PBC blogs are the views and opinions of the author.