“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” -Winston Churchill
I have decided to tell a lie. A lie about magnesium.
Why? Because the truth isn’t working.
Here’s the problem: No one knows what magnesium is for.
But they sure as hell know what calcium does. (Or so they think.)
If you walk into an Applebee’s and ask 100 people, “What does calcium do for you?” you’ll probably have 90 of them tell you, “Calcium is for strong bones.”
And biochemically, that answer is correct…sort of.
In reality, if took a piece of chalk (calcium carbonate) and dropped it on the ground, it would shatter.
Calcium is actually quite brittle by itself. It takes magnesium, boron, and a host of other minerals to create the bone matrix.
Therefore, “calcium for strong bones” is a lie…but it’s a believable lie.
And guess what…calcium supplements outsell magnesium supplements about 20 to 1. (editor’s note to himself: Go find the NPA data that shows what the actual numbers are and plug that into this article.)
Kudos to the Dairy Council for the decades of milk moustache ads.
But in that same Applebee’s, how many people out of 100 would have any answer to, “What does magnesium do for you?”
My guess is that 10 would say something about laxatives (Milk of Magnesia), and another 10 might talk about muscle relaxtion (Epsom Salt)…but the rest would have blank stares.
Therefore, magnesium needs a believable lie. It needs a simple milk moustache-like campaign with a positive message.
With all due respect to the brilliant scientists, doctors, etc. that have studied, published, etc. anything about magnesium — it’s not working! The “this mineral is good for everything” message — while technically accurate — is not getting through.
You need a marketer to simplify the message, and then repeat it a billion times.
And I think I have the answer: “MAGNESIUM IS FOR MOVEMENT!”
Biochemically, that is correct. And of course it takes more than just magnesium to move your muscles. But do you think the calcium people worried about those types of subtleties? Clearly, they did not.
“Magnesium for movement” is also just one small part of the complete magnesium story. Who cares that magnesium is also a significant contributor to curbing inflammation. Who cares that it also lowers blood pressure. Who cares that it also converts LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) into HDL cholesterol (the good kind). Who cares that’s it’s also involved in 300+ other biochemical reactions…
I’ll tell you who cares: Not a single person at Applebee’s. Because all of those benefits have been documented for years, and yet no one at Applebee’s knows this.
But I’m hoping they just might care about a simple, positive message: magnesium helps them move.
And that’s the ~$100,000 bet Jigsaw Health is taking in 2012, starting with a clever “Magnesium is For Movement” video from Epipheo Studios, due out in March.
PS – Writing this post made me realize I need to go back and re-read Seth Godin’s, “All Marketers Are Liars.”
PPS – Thanks to “Magnesium Man” Morley Robbins for helping me refine this simple message. You can enjoy his, “Let’s Get Sick In 10 Easy Steps” article that documents 10 different ways magnesium deficiency messes with your body. But after reading that, forget all of it and just tell your friends, “Magnesium is for Movement, Period.” Who cares why someone starts taking it, as long as they just start taking this miraculous mineral. 
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