Sep
22
Long tail economics . . .
September 22, 2007 | 1 Comment
I won these boots a few months ago. They are one of 100 pairs made for Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonnen as part of his 100th race celebrations when he was with McLaren.
Now 20years ago what would you have done with such boots if you were me? If you’re an F1 freak you might have kept them as mementoes to be shown at dinner parties . . . however, if, like me, you find them grotesquely hideous and an affront to good taste, you’d have tried to offload them asap. But pre-internet, what options would I have had? Specialist magazines? Sure they exist and probably did back then, but would I really have had the time and inclination to seek them out, phone them, place an ad for a fee and sit back and wait for the phone calls most of which I would have missed. I could have gifted them to someone but I don’t know anyone who loves F1 that much.
Bit of a dillema huh?
Thankfully these days we have what Chris Anderson has termed the Long Tail: a never-ending and always-lengthening demand for niche products and services glued together by internet-enablers such as Google and eBay.
I’ve no idea how the guy to whom I flogged these boots found my eBay ad: Google, Yahoo, a personal e-Mail, an eBay “Formula 1 memorabilia alert” or plain ‘ol fashioned word of mouth, but thank God he did.
Otherwise I’d never have gotten the £350 he gave me.
Long live the long tail.
Comments
1 Comment so far
Wow, some serious fugly going on with those.