Tagged: Malmo

Soda straws have been with us for a hundred-and-twenty-five years. The first patent was issued in Eighteen-Eighty-Eight. And you used to get one at soda fountains for fountain Cokes and milk shakes.

How is it that all of a sudden, even in nice restaurants, a glass of ice-water comes with a soda straw stuck in it? I don’t ask for a straw. Yet, every cold beverage arrives with a soda straw. Why is this?

When I think about all the inventions and discoveries in my lifetime, it’s mind-boggling. Plastic. Television. Computers. Cell Phones. Jet airplanes. Color photography. 

And that doesn’t scratch the surface.

But I believe the most extraordinary marketing successes have been achieved for two products that are centuries old: drinking water and music.

I was having lunch near my office downtown. The restaurant was almost full, and I was by myself, so I took a seat at the bar.

Even though it's a place I don't go often, I knew most of the other people at the bar, common among us downtowners. And they all knew the bartender, Mark.

Mark was an octopus, serving food and drink customers at the bar, which equaled several tables full of people. Service was good, but secondary, because every one of us was enjoying ourselves. It helped that it was Friday.