X-Message-Number: 3617
From:  (Gregory Bloom)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: Marketing cryonics
Date: 5 Jan 1995 23:02:07 GMT
Message-ID: <3ehtpf$>
References: <3eab3j$>

Steve Bridge () wrote:
:     ----------- CryoNet Message Auto-Forwarded by ------------
:     ----------- Kevin Q. Brown <> -------------

: Date:  Mon, 02 Jan 95 13:54:35 
: From: Steve Bridge <>
: Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Marketing cryonics

[deletia...]

:      We aren't selling cars or cookies here.  Selling cryonics is like 
: selling someone an expensive home, which they may not occupy (or have to 
: PAY for) for decades.  How can you stay in business advertising for a sale 
: which does not take place for 40 years?

Actually, selling cryonics is a lot like selling funeral services and
cemetary space.  It is expensive, you won't need it for a long time,
and when you do need it, you won't know it.

The problem with selling cryonics is it asks people to swallow a
whopper: "we (might) be able to bring back the dead!"  It would be
a whole lot easier to sell "The finest quality preservation money can buy!"
That angle has a certain snob appeal, and as the upper crust makes it
fashionable and volume makes it more affordable, we could see a
broad transition in favor of cryosuspension.

Really, after figuring in the cost of a somewhat ostentatious funeral
and casket, the cost of cryo is not entirely out of the ballpark as
a mortuarial service.  True, selling cryonics from funeral parlors
completely subverts the whole philosophy behind cryonics, but it
does offer the promise of an inroad into mass acceptance.  And mass
acceptance might eventually lead to a shift in mindset as more
loved ones are preserved and their survivors spark hope that
they might actually be revivable.  And, from a practical standpoint,
we 'believers' benefit from reduced cost as mass production allows
refinement.

For these reasons, I advocate we ditch the "bring back the dead" line
and go after the "finest preservation money can buy" line, by
striking a deal with one of the national funeral chains.

Gregory Bloom    (303)689-1226(vox)  (303)689-1399(fax)
Evolving Systems, 8000 East Maplewood Avenue, Englewood, CO 80111 (rox)

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