The tale of the Mermaid’s glass Slipper – a marketing parable

6 Mar 2003

Once upon a time a Plettenberg Bay restaurateur found the perfect place with views to die for. Not satisfied with an ordinary restaurant he placed items on the menu that would appeal to kings and perhaps to the polo players on the adjacent fields.

In a moment of (usually Johannesburg) brashness someone ordered from the kings menu - extravagance on a plate and in the bottle - at a R3600 price tag.

All was well in the land of the kings until one day a surfer looked at the menu, saw the Kings item and told all his friends who in turn told their friends when finally in a land very far away, my friend said don't go to the Mermaid's Slipper because it's the most expensive restaurant in the land.

As a fearless warrior I called the Mermaid to see for myself what the menu prices were and reported to my friends from that far away land that it would be okay for us to visit.

Dear reader, this is a sad tale of mistaken identity, or worse, of a marketing gimmick gone wrong.

The Mermaid's Slipper is one the best restaurants in Plettenberg Bay when one compares location, service, value-for-money and food. Our server confirmed that the R3600 meal was no longer available. What began as a bright idea to separate themselves from the masses had more far reaching consequences than they could have contemplated.

There is a moral for us all in this story - think twice before using a gimmick to position your product or to grab the headlines. Consumers have surprisingly long memories and it will take a long time before the urban legend of the Mermaid's Slipper is relegated to the inside of a Chappie wrapper.