Say No To Chocolate Truffles
WhySlate will share an industry’s inner thoughts. These are real people whose livelihood is derived from natural slate. This comment is shared by John Hill of Greenstone Slate and he is expressing 2 main concerns which are big budget marketing and the need to work together.
Synthetic Slate ≠ Natural Slate
In the American roofing world , faux slates have become the norm and many home owners actually think of plastic rather than rock when discussing slate. To make plastic synonymous with rock is a brilliant marketing ploy. Essentially, a “faux slate” which is a modern petroleum based product , and was derived in a lab should not be considered as being equal or better than natural slate. But it has become the accepted norm.
So while looking for comparative products that have suffered the same marketing fate as slate, I found similarities between natural slate and natural truffles. This odd point was exemplified in a current article :
“What most people don’t know is that chocolate truffles are aptly named “truffles” because of their resemblance to a real truffle. These delicious chunks of chocolate mimic the shape and size of a truffle in addition to having dusted coco powder on them to symbolize the dirt. That’s about the extent of the similarity! “
www.Tastyvino.com
Like chocolate truffles have become synonymous for truffles, in fact I had to add the “natural “ to even find non chocolate truffles on google, slate is now synonymous with plastic.
So how does the slate industry overcome this image problem? I propose a series of collaborative marketing campaigns. The industry has to pool its resources from across the board. Lump our marketing dollars together and push slate. Whether it’s from Canada, Spain, Virginia, Vermont or Wales , it is still real slate. In the end, I feel the cooperative approach will better suit the manufacturers.
The natural slate industry has to stop worrying about who controls the market share and focus upon growing the entire market. If we do not combine efforts, I fear the industry will be come irrelevant.
Keeping natural slate from slipping into the distant past will not be easy. It will take education, money and more importantly time.
Say no to chocolate Truffles.
Jon Hill