Just Another Value Statement

Ever since spouting off last week about the obscene value placed on a 130-year-old photo of a two-bit criminal known as Billy-the-Kid, the concept of value has been taunting me like Bill Murray’s gopher from Caddyshack.

How can service providers convince customers of the value of their services when our value system is so twisted? Considering the photo mentioned above went for $2.3 million in a recent auction and the leather jacket worn by the socially inept, drug-addicted man-child, Michael Jackson, in his Thriller video just went for $1.8 million, is there any logic to placing value on something?

In terms of its value to mankind, what do Billy the Kid or Michael Jackson add to the lasting enrichment of our lives? Indulge me if you would and listen to this short audio clip. Seriously, I’ll wait. It will only take a few seconds.

Click here then come back.

Underwhelming, right?

It is only underwhelming until you understand what it is and how it enriches all of us. The sound you heard was the first audio ever recorded of an extraterrestrial storm—a storm on another planet. And it’s not just any storm. It is the largest and most powerful storm to be observed with such detail. It is 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) across. And it’s on the planet Saturn. To boot, it was first observed by amateur astronomers. And mankind, by way of its Cassini spacecraft, traveled more that 750 million miles to get that recording. How many stolen horses would Billy the Kid have to ride to their deaths to go that far?

If audio is too old-school for you, here is another first: http://bit.ly/cK0SCA . Go ahead. Click. I’ll wait a little more.

That is the first video of lightning on another planet. Both clips remind me of the philosophical riddle: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? We can update that old riddle now.  

Given the value we place on First Editions, these short clips should already be priceless. They’re not. They are free on the Internet because those who captured and presented them to us know that the true value of these items is in their widest dissemination possible.

When the economy collapses and the true value of Jackson’s $1.8 million dollar jacket turns out to be in its utility as a toiletry, and the worth of Billy the Kid’s $2.3 million photo lies in its kindling properties, what are we left with but the knowledge we have acquired as a species, knowledge that may help us survive in the long run. That’s value.

Just as the audio clip was just noise until its origins were explained, the value of communications services needs to be explained. And the more personalized and data-enriched these services are, the easier it will be to explain their value and sell them, even on an individual basis.

E-mail me at tmcelligott@vpico.com or click on the comment button below.