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Seth Godin
If your boss wants focus groups to prove that a new
product is guaranteed to be a success, don’t bother. If the
focus group likes it, they’re probably wrong. If your company
wants you to pick one and only one product to feature
this Christmas, start working on your résumé. You’re
not going to invent a Purple Cow with those sorts of odds
and that kind of pressure. Things that have to work rarely
do anymore.
You don’t need a book about creativity or brainstorming
or team building. You’ve already got a hundred (or a
thousand) ideas your group doesn’t have the guts to
launch. You don’t need more time or even more money.
You just need the realization that a brand new business
paradigm is now in charge, and once you accept the reality
of the Cow, finding one suddenly gets much easier.
J. Peterman knew how to reach New Yorker readers. He
knew it was too late to become Lillian Vernon, so he didn’t
try. For the audience he was targeting, his catalog and his
voice were magical. No big mail-order company would
have invested in his vision at first. Too untested, too
“unusual.” Some might even call it weird.
When Comedy Central focus-group-tested South Park, it
set a record, scoring just 1.5 out of 10 points with women.
Three of the women in the group cried, they hated it so
much. Scary Sure. Weird To some. But the group that
mattered– adolescent boys and those who act like them–
spread the word, and the show was a monster hit.
Remember, it’s not about being weird. It’s about being
irresistible to a tiny group of easily reached sneezers with
otaku. Irresistible isn’t the same as ridiculous. Irresistible
(for the right niche) is just remarkable.
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