X-Message-Number: 3579
Date:  Mon, 02 Jan 95 13:54:35 
From: Steve Bridge <>
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Marketing cryonics


To CryoNet
>From Steve Bridge, Alcor
January 2, 1995

     Pete Merel and Bob Ettinger (primarily) have been discussing 
marketing of cryonics, especially concerning AIDS patients.  I have some 
comments on that myself.  My column in the 4th Quarter CRYONICS magazine 
is devoted to [non-AIDS] marketing questions ("Selling Cryonics", p.10-
13).  Since I assume that a large number of CryoNet readers already get 
CRYONICS, I will send Kevin a copy of the article separately and anyone 
interested may request it once he posts the information about it.  Of 
course, we invite subscriptions or individual copy sales, too.  Currently, 
CRYONICS is still $15.00 per year (although we are considering a small 
price increase later this year) and individual copies are $4.50.  A free 
copy can be sent if you haven't been a subscriber before.  

     On AIDS: 4 of Alcor's 27 patients died of AIDS-related causes.  I 
know of at least one other cryonicist who did.  5 of 52 (total currently 
in suspension) is about 9.5%.

     Of Alcor's four AIDS patients, only one (Richard Clair Jones) was a 
long-time member.  The other three signed up only after becoming very ill 
with the disease.  I know of several current Alcor members who are HIV 
positive.  I don't know in most cases whether or not this was an influence 
in their decision to join Alcor.

     I think there really is a market for cryonics among the AIDS 
"community;" but we must recognize that tapping that market will be 
tricky.  Most AIDS patients are using their incomes for medical bills.  
Many have lost their jobs because of their illnesses or even because their 
sexual orientations have been revealed.  Since the average AIDS patient is 
a young man, he will not usually have obtained life insurance before 
contracting the disease.  Many of you will recall Alcor's financial 
problems in 1993 when we suspended a man who had obtained his life 
insurance by lying about his medical condition.  The insurance company did 
not pay, leaving us with an almost unfunded patient (a friend of his gave 
us $1,000).

     That situation taught me something else.  This gentleman's attorney 
was a well-known female AIDS activist.  She was incensed that Alcor was 
offering "false hope" to people with AIDS, and then "bilking" them of 
their funds that should go toward better medical treatment and families 
(and attorneys?).  That attitude will be out there as we try to make our 
services known to this community.

     This doesn't mean we should AVOID talking to AIDS activists.  It 
*does* mean that we should talk to them carefully and that we should avoid 
projecting the attitude that we are miracle workers bringing salvation.  I 
think that a well-constructed presentation could be made which would 
present cryonics as an option for those who are interested and able to 
consider it.

     I think that advertisements directed at AIDS patients are likely to 
be perceived wrongly, even with a sensitive design.  Better would be more 
general approaches, which might mention AIDS only in passing -- but enough 
to catch the attention of people concerned with that disease.

     As far as Peter Merel's idea of offering free suspensions to famous 
Hollywood people:  We have actually tried this with famous people in the 
past, including people who seemed to think cryonics was a good idea.  
Nothing ever happened.  My theory (also developed while working for a free 
newspaper that was delivered to every home in Bloomington IN for several 
months, which nearly got the owners lynched) is simple:  Consider manure.  
If people need it and want it, they will pay for it.  If they don't want 
it, you can't pay them to take it.

     And most people will only be public about things like cryonics if a 
couple of situations apply:

     1.  They have a deep personal interest
     2.  They are more worried about being dead than being publicly 
embarrassed.  The "what will the neighbors think" is important to most of 
us, ever more so to those with a "public image" to project and protect.

     Also, famous people get dozens of solicitations for assistance and 
money.  (And most are surrounded with a protective layer of assistants.)  
They only respond to those appeals which come through people they trust or 
organizations they know.  Cryonics would rank low on the list.

     Money is always a problem in cryonics marketing.  If we had had to 
pay for Alcor's ad in the January, 1993 issue of OMNI, it would have cost 
about $30,000.  While the ad has generated several thousand calls for 
information (mostly from students, by the way), it and the contest with it 
have only produced about 20 new members so far.  I anticipate more in the 
future as people see other ads or articles and their level of awareness 
increases.  Still, a large investment in cryonics advertising produces 
only a small immediate return.  Is this cost-effective?

     We aren't selling cars or cookies here.  Selling cryonics is like 
selling someone an expensive home, which they may not occupy (or have to 
PAY for) for decades.  How can you stay in business advertising for a sale 
which does not take place for 40 years?

     Bob or I or other cryonics leaders would be delighted if some people 
would fund a marketing campaign or convince some famous person they know 
personally to sign up and be public about it.  Otherwise, please see my 
article for practical ways most people can help spread the word.

Steve Bridge

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