The Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker
God love the media… someone has to as they say!
Now that the Pandemic is over and the stories of impending doom do not generate many clicks, the media has shuffled over to AI and how soon the computers will take over the world.
Google “AI” and check out just how much the media is shooting up right now.
This past week, I had an opportunity to visit a number of different cities — some large and some small.
In driving from one event to the next, I stopped off along the way in some of the smaller towns.
When out and about, I spend more time in conversation with folks listening to their thoughts and viewpoints about a couple issues than I do speaking from the podiums.
Those who know me, know I interact with the populace a lot.
On this trip, for stimulus I got out my legal pad and a magic marker.
On one page I wrote “AI” and on another page I wrote “ChatGPT” and asked people what the acronyms stand for and mean.
Figured those in the media might just be on track for a change!
Less than half of the individuals I spoke to knew what “AI” meant and just over half said that “ChatGPT” was a new social media app.
Of those individuals who knew what AI meant most were less than 30 years old.
More folks shared that AI was a steak seasoning sauce they bought a couple times in the grocery store than mentioned Artificial Intelligence and knew what Artificial Intelligence meant.
This was true across young and old alike as well as city folks and country folk alike.
If you haven’t figured out by the title of this blog post, the post is not about technology!
A few Millennials who associated AI with steak sauce went on to say that “they saw it sold at the butcher’s counter.”
I quickly picked up on the mention of a “butcher’s counter” and surprised that they even knew what a butcher’s counter happened to be.
I asked them further if they had ever experienced a butcher’s counter… LOL… and not just a picture of one on a website.
The Millennials quickly said, “yes” and 6 out of the 10 shared it was where they went “to get their personal cuts of meat.”
The other 4 mentioned that they actually went to a butcher in their in-town Atlanta neighborhood with 2 citing a place called Pine Street Market.
Here’s the Pine Street Market website … https://www.pinestreetmarket.com/
Three of the 2023 Trends I cited back in the November blog post are advancing forward right before our eyes!
** The David vs. Goliath brand transition where the smaller indy brands are advancing at the cost of the mega brands
** The value in personal craftsmanship not only in the products produced, but the ultimate consumer outcome
** The elevation of the inshore brand experience with myriads more touchpoints than the mouse-click
As many readers know, I chaired a local community group appointed by my mayor to evaluate and new multi-functional live-work-play development.
That development secured unanimous approval by our committee as well as our mayor and county commissioners.
What drove the unanimous support?
The developer/builder/owner made a commitment to lease out 50% of the retail and restaurant space to local retailers and restaurants vs. national chains.
Is this just a blip in the trendscape?
Butchers are back and are likely to explode as more and more and more Millennials making babies move to the suburbs and small towns where housing is affordable and the landscape is scenic.
A couple of blog posts ago, I cited that the indy coffee houses have taken away nearly half of Starbuck’s coffee cafe market share.
Indy bakeries are doing the same with grocery chain bakeries and shelf brands.
In my travel last week, I stopped off and grabbed a morning muffin at two different indy bakeries.
At both I had to fight for a parking spot and then stand in line to secure my muffin.
And yes… I did engage in conversation with those standing in line with me.
BTW… neither of the bakeries had a drive thru and customers I spoke with shared that they hope the bakery never did.
One customer said that they would become a fast food place if they did.
Sometimes I find it astounding that the “Third Place” of the kitchen table did not listen to what their base customers valued in their brand experience.
The Third Place was written by Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks.
Two of the groups I presented to were very different from one another in many ways, but in terms of how they were interacting with their communities was the same.
The Young Professional Group in Decatur Georgia and the Rotary Club in the small town of Hartwell Georgia both announced doing the same type of upcoming event.
They each were sponsoring a Spring Craft and Flea Market that was combining local crafts with a consolidated garage sale in the parking lot of a nearby house of worship.
I am not making this up.
Both members making the announcements shared that there would be some great hands on craftsmen participating and marketing their crafts.
There are many times I ponder if my move from NYC to Georgia was the best move to make. I also ponder if my move from intown Atlanta to the college town of Athens Georgia was the best move to make.
Often all it takes for me to arrive at an answer is to shut down the Internet wrap up the daily NY Times and WSJ, turn off the television set and get out and talk with real people.
If you are reading this and you are convinced that AI is the next title wave change agent, I encourage you to pull up the EXPERIENCE November Blog Post ad check out the Trendcasts cited.
I also would be very concerned if you had invested a bunch of your savings into an AI venture.
Those trends in that Trendcast are happening right now all around us.
The tech industries continue their lay-offs and watch as their stocks plummet further.
And yes… The Butcher, The Baker and The Candlestick Maker are back and more to come!
