marketing changes

This morning I was thinking how when I was growing up my mum would take me to the SRV bus that would drive through our street every week. It was a mini mobile convenience supermarket store in the Netherlands and every town had one. 

In every street the man would get out and 9 out of 10 would start ringing the bell he would hold in his hand that made such a noise as to let everyone inside know he was there. For many kids it was a reason to harass mum for lollies whereas she usually was more interested to get milk, bread or cat food instead. The man (I think I only saw a lady once for a very short time) would share some stories and he must have been up to date on all the happenings of the entire town.

As far as I know the "SRV" doesn't exist anymore and Wiki tells me they ceased in 1995. So who developed this concept to start with? Apparently Cor Boonstra did in the sixties, the very big cheese who would later run the Philips empire of light-bulbs. (He was obviously a bright cookie early on.) Isn't it clever how the milk cooperates came up with this novelty to tend to the consumers. Even in such a fashion that it made me generate a moment of nostalgia. 


I find it fascinating how every decade so many new ways are invented and developed to oblige us, the consumer. As more and more people nowadays flock online then it makes sense to showcase new ways of how to be of help there. Still, I like the local tactile way and it gets to be a rare breed. With so many companies and businesses going after growing to become big and bigger, and global, it makes even more sense sometimes to stay small and personable, like the SRV man. 
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