1813, in Prussia, princess Marianne convinced people to turn in their gold jewelry to fund the war against France, and be given an iron replica in return. The replica jewelry was stamped with the words ‘Gold gab ich fur Eisen’ which means ‘I gave gold for iron’. Substitute iron jewelry produced by the Royal Berlin Foundry became the symbol of not just wealth and status, but of patriotism, .
Gold has an intrinsic value, it can be used, and reused, but its real value is in the belief we share that it has value in other ways, beauty, a symbol of wealth, luxury, status, and all the rest of the stuff we value.
The status of iron replica jewelry was conjured to become higher than that of the gold originals.
Possession of gold signals things, but those signals can be reversed, because they are all about perception. It just takes a bit of psychology, mixed in with the change of context and perception, achieved by marketing.
Marketing Alchemy.
The Prussians must have a skill for this stuff, despite their dour characterisation.
Frederick the Great achieved the opposite effect with his bit of alchemy with spuds. Frederick, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, was concerned that his people had only one source of carbohydrate, wheat. In a conflict, which he was pretty good at inciting, wheat fields could be devastated, and take a long time to be replaced, meanwhile his people would starve. The antidote was potatoes, which would provide a quick growing and reliable alternative source, but Prussians would not eat potatoes, under any circumstances. After all, dogs would not eat them, why should people?
Fred tried every form of coercion that he, as an absolute monarch, could dream up, but nothing worked. Then he found some magic marketing alchemy somewhere, and had his gardeners plant a potato garden which he decreed as Royal potatoes, reserved exclusively for the tables of royalty. He put a guard around his garden, but quietly he instructed the guards to be slack, and not enforce the security. This meant that the locals could nick in and knock off some royal potatoes pretty much without any real risk, while defying the king.
The net result was that potatoes quickly became a staple in the German diet.
Marketing alchemy at work!
Devising this sort of marketing alchemy is not easy, and is not always sensible at first glance. It is always different, counterintuitive, and will have more than its fair share of knockers. ‘It will never work’ they chorus, usually because they cannot see out of their status quo box. When you need some alchemy in your business, call an alchemist.
Header photo: iron jewelry in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
