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Soylent is the first... to specifically target the market segment that is fawning over it. Ensure and the like are not seen as products for young active SV des

by jlgreco 13y ago

Soylent is the first... to specifically target the market segment that is fawning over it. Ensure and the like are not seen as products for young active SV desk jockeys; instead it is that shit that old or ill people drink. It doesn't hurt that Soylent has a distinct "anti-authoritarian" vibe going on with it, that tickles the "techies can solve any problem, everyone else isn't as clever as we are"-bone.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> Soylent is the first... to specifically target the market segment that is fawning over it. Ensure and the like are not seen as products for young active SV desk jockeys There are actually lots of meal replacement powdered shakes that are marketed to young, active, middle-to-upper-class people.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Sure, but are they marketed to nerds? That I can think of, products like this tend to be marketed towards health enthusiasts, gym goers, body builders, hikers etc. Techies may be any or all of those things, but those products don't categorically stroke the egos of "techies" by playing into their preconceived image of themselves. I've got some protein shake mix (not quite the same thing, but close enough) above my sink, but nobody on HN cares about that stuff; it's not marketed like Soylent is. The last time I discussed Soylent on this site, I compared the marketing phenomenon around it to the "School Teacher discovers [whatever], Doctors hate her!" ads. I think everyone is fawning over soylent because they are techies, Rhinehart is a techie, and a techie somehow 'disrupting' a non-tech field fits their mental image of superiority. If Rhinehart were a nutritionist and if he were marketing this to, say, people into cardio, then this product wouldn't be notable. (Note that this isn't me saying the product will sell poorly. It is just my reason for not, say, thinking that this is going to "Change Everything"(tm))
- lowboy 13y ago
  Are there any others that have had success marketing to this segment? I'm sure many try.
vannevar 13y ago
I'd say this is a fair assessment. It's a pure marketing play, not a tech company in any meaningful sense of the word, any more than 5-Hour-Energy is a tech product.

by jlgreco 13y ago

dragonwriter 13y ago

> Soylent is the first... to specifically target the market segment that is fawning over it. Ensure and the like are not seen as products for young active SV desk jockeys There are actually lots of meal replacement powdered shakes that are marketed to young, active, middle-to-upper-class people.

jlgreco 13y ago
Sure, but are they marketed to nerds? That I can think of, products like this tend to be marketed towards health enthusiasts, gym goers, body builders, hikers etc. Techies may be any or all of those things, but those products don't categorically stroke the egos of "techies" by playing into their preconceived image of themselves. I've got some protein shake mix (not quite the same thing, but close enough) above my sink, but nobody on HN cares about that stuff; it's not marketed like Soylent is. The last time I discussed Soylent on this site, I compared the marketing phenomenon around it to the "School Teacher discovers [whatever], Doctors hate her!" ads. I think everyone is fawning over soylent because they are techies, Rhinehart is a techie, and a techie somehow 'disrupting' a non-tech field fits their mental image of superiority. If Rhinehart were a nutritionist and if he were marketing this to, say, people into cardio, then this product wouldn't be notable. (Note that this isn't me saying the product will sell poorly. It is just my reason for not, say, thinking that this is going to "Change Everything"(tm))
lowboy 13y ago
Are there any others that have had success marketing to this segment? I'm sure many try.

vannevar 13y ago

I'd say this is a fair assessment. It's a pure marketing play, not a tech company in any meaningful sense of the word, any more than 5-Hour-Energy is a tech product.