X-Message-Number: 4258
Date:  Thu, 20 Apr 95 13:24:55 
From: Steve Bridge <>
Subject: Cryonics Marketing

To CryoNet
>From Steve Bridge
April 20, 1995

In reply to:  Message #4252
              Date: 20 Apr 95 02:44:08 EDT
              From: Jim Davidson <>
              Subject: Marketing statistics

     Thanks to Jim for this interesting post.  I want to add a couple of 
details to this (and to what Charles Platt previously posted on the subject). 

>The information posted about actual returns from several _Omni_ 
>magazine articles on cryonics sent me back to the textbooks to review 
>some statistics.  Obviously, my suppositions about how much response 
>would come from an article was off by an order of magnitude, which I 
>found disturbing.

     One interesting thing about magazine articles as part of "advertising" 
is that they are INDEXED.  Unlike pure ads in magazines or television, the 
useful life of certain magazine articles can be much longer.  For 
example, back in the February 1992, issue of Omni, Charles wrote a one page 
article, "Confessions of a Cryonicist."  This article did result in about 
1,000 requests for information in the first year.  However, since it is in 
the various library indexes, at LEAST that many people have seen it and 
called Alcor in the following two years.  Most of these were students doing 
reports; but that's not all bad.  A large percentage of those reports are 
given orally to the entire class, and the idea spreads.

     Also, in the past year or so, I would estimate that Alcor, through 
interviews in major newspapers (Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago 
Tribune, etc.), radio programs, and television and magazine interviews all 
over the world, has informed at least 10 million people about cryonics.  
(Maybe many more; I have never seen statistics on how many people read which 
articles in a newspaper.)  I figure most people must read or hear about 
cryonics several times before it becomes "real" to them; but I'm sure we have 
raised the numbers of hits in that progression this year.

>A product may be said to have "peaked" when it has captured the early
>adopters and has moved into the vast majority who may be termed late
>adopters.  These more conservative folks are waiting for an idea to
>catch on, preferably so the cost will come down.  

     And the "cost" is not just the "price."  With cryonics, the *emotional* 
cost of being different from your friends and family is quite high.  Remember 
that fear of speaking in public always ranks higher in polls than fear of 
death.  Literally, many people would rather die than be embarassed.

     At one time the emotional cost of cremation was too high for most 
people, even though the price of cremation was 5-10% of that for burial.  
That has changed today, but it took a century.  We all hope it won't take 
that long for cryonics.  But we should all remember that this is not like 
the growth in sales of VCRs or computers.  The emotional content is much 
different.

     The first people to adopt VCRs or Laser disks got a lot of new friends, 
especially on Saturday nights.  The first people to adopt cryonics got scorn, 
including divorce and even jail, in some cases.    

     Steve Bridge


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