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The raw power of want vs. need

Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, December 31, 2006

Want to be convinced of the raw power of want versus need? Try to buy a Playstation 3. Go ahead, I dare you.

The latest game system from Sony is supposed to be selling anywhere from $400 to $500, but good luck trying to find one.

Sony, which said it hoped to have a million of these bad boys on their way to retailers by Christmas, only released 400,000 during the system's debut. Wittingly or not, that set off PS3 pandemonium, including freaked-out shoppers sleeping in the layaway department of one Wal-Mart store in hopes of grabbing one of two units initially allotted to that store.

Other Playstation fanatics waited in line upwards of 40 hours for the prospect of getting their hands on one. The media, of course, also reported a rash of hard-luck tales involving kids whose patience earned them the right to own a PS3, only to have it taken, in some cases at gunpoint, by thugs.

We've all said that certain things are "to die for," but one poor guy in New England almost did when he was shot as part of a mugging the day the PS3 went on sale in Connecticut. Then there are the gougers who somehow scored multiple systems and created incredible bidding wars on eBay. I heard that some folks bid well over $4,000 for a PS3.

What's my point? I guess it's more of a question that hopefully leads to a point: What does Sony know that we don't?

I mean, even in your wildest dreams, can you envision normally mentally sound consumers sleeping in the street in order to buy the first XYZ sofa?

How about this scenario: You and your significant other are happily transporting your brand new Comfapedic mattress home from the store. You're waiting for the light to turn green when you hear a tapping, and roll down the window only to find yourself facing the nozzle of a nasty can of pepper spray and the menacing stare of a guy determined to sleep on your Comfapedic.

I know I'm stretching the boundaries of reality here, but so is Sony. They took a want and turned it into a very real, very demanding need. The item is not the issue. Creating a desire so compelling that it can't be denied, is.

I'm convinced the formula to make that happen in our world is out there.

We just haven't figured it out ... yet.

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The raw power of want vs. need

Jan 2, 2007

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