Purple Cow (20 page)
LOTTERY TICKETS OFFER low investment and a big win. When the jackpot hits record levels ($100 million is remarkable money, even to a millionaire), ticket sales go up exponentially. Ironically, the odds of winning are even worse than usual, so buying when there’s a $20 million jackpot is the smarter of two dumb choices. So why do sales go up? Because the remarkable nature of the larger jackpot gets people talking about it and dreaming about winning.
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE smoke unfiltered cigarettes or drink high-proof alcohol? Maybe it’s the affiliation with danger and self-destruction. The extreme nature of the product makes it appealing to this audience.
WHEN A PRODUCT OR SERVICE is about risk avoidance, a solution that minimizes that risk is worth talking about. If I was a lawyer, I’d specialize in a very narrow niche, becoming the best in the world at defending a certain kind of lawsuit. If your company was the victim of one of these lawsuits, whom would you hire? The specialist who does nothing but defend (and win) cases like this, or your local corporate firm? When someone has a problem like this, he is extremely open to external marketing messages, and he will seek out and usually find someone who presents him with the lowest possible downside.
WHY GO KITEBOARDING? I mean, you can ski or snowboard or windsurf or water-ski. Yet kiteboarding is one of the fastest-growing sports today. Strap a surfboard to your feet, hold onto a huge kite, and start racing across the water at thirty miles an hour. Unless, of course, you get dragged along the beach. So dangerous, it’s worth talking about. So dangerous that those who seek out new and dangerous sports are drawn to it.
IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO SOTHEBY’S or a Soho art gallery, you’ll notice that almost without exception, the men and women working there are truly beautiful. Not just beautiful on the inside, but really good looking. I wonder why that is. What would happen if your nuts-and-bolts plumbing supply company hired a beautiful male model as a receptionist? People would talk.
SPEEDING THROUGH THE AIRPORT the other day, I noticed that the clothing worn by just about everyone working at every concession was totally unremarkable. Why not dress the folks at the ice cream stand in pink and white stripes and bow ties? “Hey, did you see that?”
EASILY OVERLOOKED, but just as important as physical appearance, is the voice that people hear. I respond differently when I hear James Earl Jones welcoming me to Directory Assistance. Moviefone succeeded in its early days largely as a result of curious people calling to hear what their friends called “that annoying voice.”
I LOVE MY DOCTOR. Not just because I’m not sick (which is partly his doing) but also because he spends so much time with me when I visit. I don’t think Ray does this as a marketing tool—I think he really and truly cares. And it’s remarkable. Remarkable enough that I’ve referred a dozen patients to him.
No ONE WILL ARGUE YOU WITH YOU if you claim that Wal-Mart is the biggest, most profitable, scariest retailer on earth. So when Wal-Mart was frantically trying to catch up with
Amazon.com
, what did they have plastered on a banner in their offices? “You can’t out-Amazon Amazon.”
Amazon.com
, what did they have plastered on a banner in their offices? “You can’t out-Amazon Amazon.”
It’s a great insight. Even this mighty retailer realized that just copying Amazon’s strengths wouldn’t be sufficient. Once someone stakes out a limit, you’re foolish to attempt a pale imitation. The Democrats will never be able to out-Republican the Republicans, Reebok can’t out-Nike Nike and JetBlue didn’t try to out-American American. You have to go where the competition is not. The further the better.
DOES THE POSTAL SERVICE hire annoying people or just train them to be that way? How many times have you told someone about a bad experience at the Motor Vehicles bureau? It’s not expensive, and if you’re not really and truly a monopoly, it might be worth investing in exceptionally nice people as a way of being remarkable.
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