During the Vietnam War, the most important supply route for the North Vietnamese was the Ho Chi Minh trail.
The majority of their supplies went down this route.
The Americans knew roughly were it was.
But because it went through the jungle, they couldn’t see the exact location.
Except at one point.
Where it crossed the river, over a bridge.
There was no way to hide that.
So they sent in an airstrike to destroy it.
They took out the entire bridge.
But within a day or two, the North Vietnamese had rebuilt the bridge.
It was back up and operating again.
So the Americans sent in another airstrike.
Destroyed the bridge again.
Within a few days it was back up and operating again.
So the Americans went in again.
Took out the whole bridge again.
Within a few days the Vietnamese had it back up and operating again.
That’s pretty much how it went on for the entire war.
The Americans would take it out.
The North Vietnamese would rebuild it.
And so on.
The Americans were forced to keep attacking it.
Because the Ho Chi Minh trail was vital to the North Vietnamese.
But somehow the supplies just kept getting through.
The North Vietnamese kept the Ho Chi Minh trail open, and eventually won.
After the war was over, the Americans found out the truth.
The bridge wasn’t a real bridge.
It was a fake.
That’s how the North Vietnamese were able to rebuild it so quickly each time.
It was put there as a target for the American Air Force.
Its purpose was to draw their attention away from the real crossing-point.
A few hundred yards upstream.
Here the North Vietnames had a ford across the river, just below the surface.
From the air it was invisible.
But trucks could still cross it at night.
The Americans never found it, they were concentrating on the bridge.
I saw a similar thing in Oxford Street.
Either side of our agency were two massive record shops.
Towards Oxford Circus was HMV, towards Tottenham Court Road was Virgin.
Some days I’d walk to one, some days to the other.
Virgin was obviously more successful.
Every time I went there they were packed.
Absolutely full of teenage boys playing video games, looking through the racks of CDs and DVDs.
So I stopped going there, it was too crowded.
I used to go to HMV instead, it wasn’t nearly so crowded.
Just people around my age in the rock section, or the modern jazz section, or the country music section, or the classical music section.
I much preferred HMV, even if wasn’t so successful as Virgin.
But a funny thing happened.
Virgin went out of business.
See here’s what was happening that I didn’t see.
All the people in Virgin were youngsters.
Time rich, cash poor.
They’d spend hours killing time in there, playing free games, flicking through CDs and DVDs.
But they didn’t actually buy much.
Whereas the people in HMV were working guys, roughly my age.
Cash rich, time poor.
We rush in, in the lunch hour, pick up the CDs we want.
Maybe buy a few more while we’re in there.
Maybe grab a couple of DVDs, too.
Then get back to work.
So HMV always looked empty while Virgin always looked full.
But it wasn’t about what I saw.
It was about what I didn’t see.
Just like the bridge.
The Americans did the obvious, and the North Vietnamese were creative.
Virgin did the obvious, and HMV were creative.
I once heard creativity described as, “Looking at what everyone else is looking at, and seeing something no one else sees.”
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Great insight, Dave
Just like in Asia
During lunchtime, the well-dressed bankers leaf through magazines
And because they’re well dressed, some shop keepers treat them like gold
What they don’t realize is, it’s the badly dressed scruffy ad agency types, who are the ones buying the mags
Borders (US bookshop) encourages shoppers to seat on the floor and read the books and magazines
They seem to think that’s being friendly
But I stopped going to Borders?
Why?
Because if is just impossible to get to the books I want thanks to the idiots who browse and block
Is that why the Borders on Oxford Circus just closed?
I used it when I was reading The Fountainhead. It’s a pretty big book, so I couldn’t be arsed to carry it around. I’d just pop into Borders, find it on the shelf and read it in one of their comfy armchairs.
Maybe I should have bought more and used less. Could that be another post, Dave? The idea of paying a bit more for things because of the extra hidden value you get from them. I should have used that shop for books, DVDs, wrapping paper etc. instead of HMV and Paperchase, then it might still exist and I’d have somewhere to read heavy books and free magazines.
Or maybe Ben, they shouldn’t have had comfy chairs.
If you had to stand to read you might have had to choose, put it back or buy it.
Like Virgin, Borders were encouraging people to stay instead of buy.
It’s the same in social-media (all media in fact) people often confuse quantity of eyeballs with quality of eyeballs.
You’re right though, good subject for a post.
Ben I like your style. But it’s Atlas Shrugged if you’re going to do one Ayn Rand. I’m just saying
Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. A wonderful book about Corporate America, society, power, lust, greed, and one man who turns his back on everything conventional. Ayn Rand even gave him red hair to make the point of how much we stereotype people’s looks with roles. As you say Dave: “Looking at what everyone else is looking at, and seeing something no one else sees.” is a wonderful way to describe creativity. Seeing the unseen.
We went to Karamanbuchai in Thailand to see the real bridge over the River Kwai. It was nothing like the film. Just a tiny narrow bridge over a small, low, fast-flowing river. Such a let-down after seeing the film, and so sad a monument to all the soldiers whose lives had been destroyed in building, and rebuilding it. However, the train Journey was awesome.
Diversionary tactics are also used to avoid feelings. During the Vietnam War, my cousin operated on American soldiers coming back from the front. On one occasion she told me she sat under the tented operating table during an air raid smoking a cigarette. She never smoked in her life, but it helped that day. Some of the American soldiers used to make toys for the local children as a strategy to help them avoid thinking about the misery of the war surrounding them daily. They made these amazing helecopters for thr kids out of bits of syringe, tubing and surgical supplies. They were real pieces of art, and most of all, they captured the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese children and set them free.
Saturday my wife treated me to a cup of Coffee in Bexleyheath. She took me into her favourite Coffee shop. She told me she hated Starbucks just up the road, because it was expensive and nothing special. She ordered two Cappucinos. To my surprise, they came back with a FREE Thornton’s Chocolate. WOW! Result!
I’m going through the entire James Bonds at the mo, but I will get round to Atlas Shrugged.
By the way, just to be clear, I did buy a copy (at Waterstones), which I read at home. I just didn’t like lugging it around. I did read their mags for free though.
Now I really think that you should be aware of what you are actually purchasing (in this case, heat, light, furniture rental, shelving etc.) and patronise everything that you want to continue. You’ll miss it when it’s gone. I abused that shop and now it’s shut down. I’ve only got myself to blame…
Based on the accuracy of the U.S.A.F it’s a wonder they never hit the real bridge.
I was on Oxford Street the other day. Finally found an atm and then traipsed up to where I thought I would get a coffee and read a mag… only to find Borders was gone. Thanks for killing Borders, Ben. Are you licensed to kill, Ben?
I guess the thinking is that some people would eventual become loyal, maybe even become advocates, to the likes of Borders and Virgin because of the ‘free’ mags, books and cd’s etc they get to read and listen to.
Guess they didn’t bank on the prolificacy of opportunists about.
Dave, re: less comy chairs
Rumour has it fast food people (and we know who the biggest is) spend millions researching chairs
So they are comfortable only for the duration of a meal
After that, the chairs become unfomfortable
This to discourage kids especially from hanging out there to share a pack of chips and a tin o pop
My exCD usd to have wire-frame chairs to keep meeetings short
First time I met him, I had been caught in the rain and me trousers were wet
That didn’t help one bit for comfort
But I got the job
I worked in the HMV in Bluewater the autumn after I finished Art College and, to some extent, the opposite was true. They had a big, two floor shop, we had a cramped, overstocked little spot on just one level but we were always packed and they were always half empty.
I remember at one point someone trying to get one of the Christmas temps to price-match an album with what Virgin were selling it for (if there was ever any difference in price it was normally V that were cheaper and everyone knew it), he asked me for permission and I said no. “Aren’t you in competition with them then?” the customer asked. “No,” I said, “they’re in competition with us.”
We were top dog, no question, and the reason was the staff. Where V had employed your standard local shopping centre bunch HMV had tried to find people who were knowledgeable and passionate about music and film. Some of the guys had played on the albums we were selling and we could have put a pretty decent band together. And a fairly competitive pub quiz team too.
And we got paid quite a bit more as well, a clever bonus structure kept you motivated and on your toes. The result was you’d very rarely see people leaving with just one thing, 3 to 5 items would be more the norm. All because of customer service.
I wished I had gotten his name
In the 1990s, I went to Virgin Marble Arch armed with a list of albums recommended by the Rolling Stones Album Guide
The list was a mix
There were blues, reggae, gospel, jazz etc
Anyway, the guy I showed the list to started rattling on about how I should get one album over another
Because the session musician and enginner on that recording was better
I thought he was bluffing me
Anyway, he closed his counter and started showing me the CDs he thought I ought to get
And of course, what he said was right
I was amazed by his knowlegde
And ended up giving him a 10 or 20 quid tip
He protested but I insisted
Such passion and knowledge ought to be rewarded
(Ti Ashton told me that when he did Levis, he actually asked the CD shops to recommendthe best music
And given the shop assistants’ knowledge, I believe Tim)
Anyway when I was back in 2000, Virgin was gone
In Marble Arch I mean
So, if the guy who served me in the 90s is reading this. please leave your email
Would love to get in touch with you
What a heat warming story, Ian. Hope you find him.
I mean heart warming.
I prefer heat warming.
Over the last year or so I’ve been on a one man campaign to get companies to repatriate our call centres. British customer service was second to none. I am pleased to hear it is coming back. “Our word is our bond.” used to be the City catchphrase, renowned around the World. Unfortunately third party companies do not have such a great attitude, and it is all about attitude. There are a lot of good sensible teenagers out there who deserve a better press than they get. This country is awash with highly educated graduates with no job to go to. Eventually, out of all this will come better customer service in the long term because the educational bar has been raised. On the up-side, there has never been so many teenagers going to College and University in this country than ever before. Their commitment to pay their own way to learn deserves more reward than a token job, but for now, many of them are lucky if they get any job at all. That needs to change.
Going back to the theme of your piece Dave:
I was driving to a “service user” the other day.
(It’s not PC to say patient anymore)!
The road had double yellow lines all over it.
It was right outside a School.
The car in front stopped at the Zebra crossing.
There was no-one there.
Three girls got out of the car and walked across the road.
I just thought that was a smart bit of thinking.
Stopping in front of an empty Zebra Crossing to let your own kids cross!
Ben, I’ve been thinking about your comments on Borders.
Here’s my opinion.
Borders need to decide if they’re running a shop or a library.
The only purpose in letting people read the books is that they may buy them.
So how about if only special ‘display’ copies of the books are on the shelves, with the first two chapters printed and all the other pages blank?
You only get the fully printed book if you actually buy it.
@Dave
Think it’s an American thing?
Borders, at least in the past, insisted that the way to get people to read was to turn their shop into a library.
Never mind about the chagrin of serious book buyers.
In fact, at one time, Borders’ sentiment was ‘that those of us with money should remember those who don’t have the money for books’.
I well remember those days when I counted out change to buy a book - the Complete Works of Shakespeare at 15 quid.
But I also recall being taught that since I had no money and wanted to read, I should not impede others.
Trouble is, even people who have the money often don’t want to buy books.
Maybe because of storage problems?
So, I’ve been telling my friend who manahges a book store that he should run promotions that give away nice bookshelves.
And not just books.
Of course he thinks I’m mad.
I think that’s a good idea. A better one (it’s not mine) was suggested about fifteen years back: in the mid-nineties they used to print short 50p books for sale in Smiths. These might be a collection of poems or a short story by someone like Oscar Wilde. Someone (I think it was Gilbert Adair of the Sunday Times) said that they should instead print the first 50 pages of novels. It would encourage more people to check them out, and then you’d get your 50p of the price of the whole thing.
Someone really ought to do this. Where’s the downside? I will mention it to my friends at Penguin today. Thanks for reminding me.
http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-90.html
^
Some good ideas up there about ways to sell books more effectively. Unfortunately all too late. As impossible as it seems now, books are going to disappear. The electronic reader is already here, and historically, all items that can be translated into code end up going that way, killing off the original format in all but a nostalgic cottage industry sense. I’ll give mass production of books five years maximum before the obvious profit gains of granting single reader licenses to digital files win out.