For those of you who are perhaps unfamiliar with the marketing
efforts of goods and services, at least in the United States, there
are countless stories of goods or services (hereafter,
simply "products") which don't take off upon initial release.

However, committed to the utility and profitability of the product,
a _wise_ management team will quickly re-BRAND and re-PACKAGE the
product.

It is sometimes the case that a "me too" competitor will take
essentially the same product and, because their marketing is
superior, suceed greatly in the marketplace.

The Esperanto (hereafter Eo) and Ido competition "kind of" reminds
me of the Microsoft Windows vs. IBM OS/2 battle for the desktop
operating system market. Technologically speaking, OS/2 ran circles
around Windows. But, Windows had the marketing prowess behind it.
There is of course more to the story but, in my mind, that is the
heart of the matter.

*** There is a fundamental law of marketing (actually it's really
the FIRST COMMANDMENT of Marketing): "It's better to be FIRST than
to be BETTER."

Who was the first person to make a solo transatlantic flight? Who
can forget Lindbergh?

Now: WHO WAS THE SECOND? Who the hell knows? (or cares?)

The #1 Law ("It's better to be FIRST than to be BETTER") shows
itself to be true in countless instances of American product
marketing. (See "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Ries and
Trout for excellent examples.)

Friends, Eo, from the perspective of many "laymen" people, was the
first IAL. (And it's the LAYMEN and MASSES that we want as
consumers.) Because Eo was first in their minds, it won a great deal
of IAL "marketshare."

(We must always distinguish between the pundits and the masses.
Pundits are more concerned about the technical particulars of the
language, whereas the masses are interested in utility. As most of
are aware-- Ido is a language with quite enough pundits and sadly
few users.)

Law #1 is essentially the "Law of Leadership": those who lead their
product category essentially win the vast marketshare for that
category. OFTEN, if not MOST OF THE TIME, the FIRST to market become
the leaders.

*** PROBLEM #1: EO LEADS THE IAL MARKET. ***

So what is a non-market leader to do?

LAW #2: "If you aren't the leader in your product category, then
CREATE A NEW CATEGORY YOU CAN BE FIRST IN!"

Now, who was the first WOMAN to make a solo transatlantic flight?
Who can forget Amelia Earhart?

Now: WHO WAS THE SECOND? Who the hell knows? (or cares?)

Why do we rembember Earhart? BECAUSE SHE WAS FIRST IN HER _CATEGORY_
(i.e., "Women to make solo transatlantic flights").

Thus, the objective of many marketeers if they know they cannot
be "first to market" in the established category? CREATE A NEW
CATEGORY and BE FIRST IN _IT_.

Think of the various computer categories. There
are "minicomputers," "mainframes," "servers," "workstations," et al.
And, as you may know, there are leaders in different categories.

As I've studied Ido, it is a reform project of Eo. As such, Idists
ran around with no other value proposition than, "Ido is Better!"
Think of yourself as a consumer. Imagine you drink brand-X cola and
have done so for years. Now, brand-Y cola comes to you (via various
advertising channels) saying, "Y is better than X".

Do you care?

If you're already an X-cola drinker, you're not going to change. (In
fact, the hardest thing in the world is to CHANGE SOMEONE's MIND.)
And if you're not a cola drinker at all, then you don't care if X is
better.

IN SHORT: The "My product is BETTER!" is a crappy way to build
marketshare. People either don't BELIEVE or don't CARE.

For us to market Ido as merely a "better Esperanto" is a grand
mistake. After all, whom have we converted? PUNDITS. Not the masses.

In my opinion, the road to IAL dominance will be achieved in either
one of two ways. BY FIAT, wherein the governments of the world
mandate it. Or by the masses choosing: and if that's the case, then
WE NEED TO MARKET IDO TO THE MASSES, incrementally growing market
share until we are the leaders.

*** Thus, our task at hand is to (1)

-- CREATE A NEW BRAND FOR IDO
-- CREATE A NEW PRODUCT CATEGORY THAT WE CAN BE FIRST IN

The word (Brand) "Ido", well, sucks. It strikes no emotional chord
with me, nor probably anyone else. People buy on emotion and use
reason to justify their purchase. We need something emotional.
Something that strikes a chord in the senses.

WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT? Think of the drill market. People (men) don't
want drills. THEY WANT __HOLES__. Well, the masses do NOT want a
langauge (pundits do). The masses want an EASY way to communicate.
The masses want LOVE. The masses want friendships. THE MASSES WANT
SEX.

One thing (and I'm just brainstorming here) that Ido (under a new
brand) could do is enable international partner-finding. As the
global culture expands, people are interested in finding sexual
partners, soul-mates, or what have you, from other countries. Think
of a "Global Soul Mates"-ish web site (in rebranded Ido) that helps
aspirants find their "international lover"??

I'll tell you, my friends, if we can somehow link rebranded-Ido with
an International Lover Connection, tell me it wouldn't be first in a
rather exciting category? (Hell, it might even make someone a lot of
money at the same time.)

The language would have to be of course revised to accomodate the
sensual language of international lovers, but what problem is that?

(Something I mentioned in a former email was marketing rebranded-Ido
to the world chess federations. I could really see that working,
too.)

HOLY HAPPY CRAPPY. Imagine if our "new category" to be FIRST in was
this: "Languages to facilitate international dating and romance."

Sure, there's "Esperanto", some ho-hum "general purpose language".
BUT OUR (REBRANDED)-IDO, is the FIRST to be an INTERNATIONAL
LANGUAGE OF LOVE AND ROMANCE.

We could recruit some tech-savvy people to create a website
dedicated to connecting international lovers and romance-fanatics.
There could be pictures, profiles, forums, et al.

Anyway, I'm going on and on here. I'm just brainstorming. But
consider this: if there were some "hotty", whether male or female,
that you had some potential with, wouldn't you want to learn
(rebranded)-Ido? Sex will drive men to great distances; Romance will
drive women to great distances. People will never have "demand" for
a language in a of itself (except for PUNDITS). We must associate
with (rebranded)-Ido the deepest demand of all: Love, Romance,
Excitement, and (yes) sex.

Warmest of Regards,

Jason