Top-of-the-line has a promising and positive ring to it, doesn’t it? You’ve been top-of-the-bunch, top-of-the-class and top-of-the-world, at times and rightly so. So, does top-of-the-pile have a positive ring too? Debatable. It depends on the context. Let me take you through top-of-the-pile marketing. It will be fun. [I will stop hyphenating the phrase in the copy as it’s just damn time consuming, bear with me.]
Top-of-the Pile
My wife has a persistent grudge, among many others, against me. I always pick the t-shirt that lies on the top of the pile in my cupboard, to wear at home. The formal shirts that I wear to work also face the same fate. I am sure my colleagues think that I have just those five button-down shirts that I wear to office, including on Fridays as I have started to appear akin to the Humpty of the Dumpty kinds in t-shirts, I have been told.
My wife does take pains to shuffle the pile of shirts in my cupboard and I end up wearing a new set of shirts for some time till they start complaining about the routine that they’ve been put through. They actually don’t shout that out but they would have, if they had a voice. I think they turn scratchy in an attempt to convey their displeasure. But that’s beyond the point.
The point is that we all like to pick shirts from the top of the pile because:
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It’s an easy task to perform
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The results are predictable
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It’s a comfortable approach
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It saves time as we’re perpetually in a hurry
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We’ve not been told that we look bad in those shirts
Sounds familiar? Read on.
Top-of-the-Pile Marketing
Top of the pile marketing is just like picking out that shirt from the top of the pile of shirts. It’s easy, it gives predictable results, marketers are comfortable with that approach, its success has been proven time and again and no one has told the marketers that the results are bad.
