
'Hot Dog Water' seller in Vancouver gets laughs to prove point - petethomas
https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/hot-dog-water-seller-in-vancouver-gets-laughs-to-prove-point-1.3984356
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yurishimo
If we imagine that each of the bottles was 1 liter, his experiment grossed him
$2.2k at a minimum in a day. Minus the cost of the hot dogs and water bottles,
not a bad profit!

In all seriousness, it's amusing to see the correlation people put on monetary
cost and the supposed effects of a product. Time and time again we've all seen
studies of higher priced items performing better than the exact same product
at a lower price point. If a bottle of hot dog water costs $38, it must work!

While this was intended as a jab at "holistic" products that get sold with
dubious health claims, it turned into a case study on marketing and
positioning your product using pricing to convey value; even if that value is
actually bogus in any measured context.

~~~
vinceguidry
People who paid $38 for his hot dog water would not have bought it if it
weren't for the experience he offered them, which to me looked like the
opportunity to turn the tables for a minute at a fair and act like hucksters.

I can think of two ways he can scale this offering. He could focus more on the
personal aspect, then he'd be turning into an actual product huckster and is
moving towards the space occupied by pitchmen like Billy Mays and Vince Offer.

Or he put his hot dog water up on the Internet with some funny copy, putting
it in Pet Rock territory.

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sov
Missed opportunity to call it Hogwash.

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dsego
A Croatian artist launched a controversial petition – and proved people will
sign anything

[http://www.calvertjournal.com/news/show/10196/sinisa-
labrovi...](http://www.calvertjournal.com/news/show/10196/sinisa-labrovic-
petition-priests-catholic-church-child-abuse-croatia)

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Theodores
Kickstarter next. Or maybe an ICO complete with white paper. The wonders of a
DNA based blockchain could be leveraged to guarantee that the product is
legit. Then get a few Youtube 'influencers' in on the gig, giving them promo
codes that, if used, give them a $10 back-hander. Plus the $75 Google give you
for your first goes at ad-words. I would love to be stalked everywhere I go
online by 'HOT DOG WATER'. Then there is affiliate marketing. That would work.

A back-story is needed too. Some story about how the product was discovered in
Germany by some gay Jewish-Romanian autistic savant in the 1930's, for the
Nazis to spare him from 'Aktion T4' due to his discovery. Maybe they mixed it
with amphetamines so that the Luftwaffe could fly 24/7.

The concentration of 'Hot Dog Water' in the rebooted product could differ from
the original in that the 'water' collected from the nether ends of pigs is
pasteurized, homogonised, denatured and FDA approved for modern 'tastes'.

The inevitable court case could also be part of the 'art performance', to take
the piss out of how big pharma defend their opioid products.

~~~
berbec
> an ICO complete with white paper. The wonders of a DNA based blockchain
> could be leveraged to guarantee that the product is legit.

The got dog man is Satoshi!!

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grizzles
Had he kept the gag on the dl he probably could have raised a nice little
cocktail wiener round.

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huhtenberg
Before we all get swooned by the effectiveness of his business model - most
people probably bought this as a gag gift rather than because they believed in
its medicinal properties. Because if they didn't, these sales would qualify as
a scam.

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oldcynic
So where do you place Aethaer who are selling bottles of "fresh" air?
[http://www.aethaer.com/shop](http://www.aethaer.com/shop) There are companies
selling other nationalities of air. (It's bad enough just writing that out)

Aethaer seem to have grown since their little bit of viral fame a few years
ago.

~~~
berbec
And let's not forget the billion dollar industry that is pouring tap water
into a container and selling it for $15/gallaon.

Pepsi (Aquafina) and Coca Cola (Dasani) have an... "amazingly loyal" group of
customers. They're buying soda, with everything that makes it soda removed,
and paying the same price as if they bought actual soda.

~~~
skookum
> with everything that makes it soda removed

Everything that makes soda soda is bad for me. I could buy soda and remove
that stuff myself, which is a fair bit of work. Or I could pay someone to do
it for me. The fact that Pepsi does this at no additional premium over the
soda is something I appreciate.

~~~
oldcynic
Or you could, you know, fill a bottle from the tap before leaving home?

~~~
huhtenberg
There are quite a few places where you have to filter and boil tap water
before filling a bottle with it.

~~~
oldcynic
Dasani and Aquafina are quite literally tap water, filtered, but not boiled,
then bottled with a trace amount of salt added.

So for most people with safe municipal supply it's a complete waste of money
no matter what Coke's marketing might try to imply.

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vfinn
Trustworthiness plays at least a minor role in this kind of sells, even though
you could say it's not the point. His good nature, honest appearance, and
probably knowledge of science could confuse people, so he shouldn't sell the
product himself to prove a point.

Did you know that spruce resin, nature's own goodie, is highly effective in
curing wounds? Or is it? 20$ a bottle. It works like this. These and these
compounds make it work. Do you follow? 20$ a bottle.

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vortico
Where can I buy bulk amounts of HÕT DÕG WATER?

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hndamien
So is this hot dog or not hot dog?

