Selling Dreams

A customer revolution is afoot, making a fundamental change in how people purchase and enjoy products and services. This revolution is fueled by millions of customers who are imposing their will, tastes, and desires to force a transformation in the way companies produce and sell. In order to win in this revolution, companies have to connect with their customers' imaginations. They have to surprise and challenge them. Companies have to sell dreams.

No one has been better at the business of selling dreams than Ferrari. The company has achieved an unparalleled position in the business world with a product renowned for its excellence. But Ferrari is also a master at selling dreams.

Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni, President and CEO of Ferrari North America, shows in this book how any company can create a dream product or service. Yes, there are companies, such as Ferrari, that focus solely on dream products and services. But there are also companies in all industries whose products can ignite their customers' dreams. With a single dream product, these companies can achieve blockbuster successes that establish their brands for years to come.

Searching for answers beyond the realm of business, Selling Dreams reveals the principles of "dreamketing" in which brand management is elevated to an art form, compelling artists, market sociologists, and executives to conjure up images that not only take hold of the collective customer consciousness but also attract lasting interest in products and services that will set tomorrow's trends. Longinotti-Buitoni examines how event the most unlikely products -- cigars, athletic shoes, cosmetics, and even our own bodies as products of the fitness industry have become the ultimate dream products.

While most businesses have reached saturation points, the business of selling dreams has no limits. Companies can no longer count on inflation and interest-rate decreases, cost-cutting, or restructuring to sustain higher earning growth. They will have to boost their pricing power by heightening customers' perception of their products' value. Longinotti-Buitoni demonstrates how entrepreneurs and managers from all fields of business can avoid the commodity trap by learning a great deal from those who market products and services intended to fulfill customers' unlimited material fantasies.

Selling Dreams is an invaluable tool for anyone in the business world, and its practical step-by-step marketing plans will appeal to anyone who wants to stay ahead of the competition in the crowded, fast-paced, and ever-evolving marketplace of the coming 2000s.