it’s baked in a wood-fired oven. Poilane refused to hire bakers—he told me they had too many bad habits to unlearn—and instead hired young men who were willing to apprentice with him for years.
At first, the French establishment rejected his products, considering them too daring and different. But the overwhelming quality of the loaves and Poilane’s desire to do it right finally won them over.
Virtually every fancy restaurant in Paris now serves Poilane bread. People come from all over the world to wait in line in front of his tiny shop on Rue de Cherche Midi to buy a huge loaf of sourdough bread—or more likely, several loaves. The company he founded now ships loaves all over the world, turning handmade bread into a global product, one worth talking about.
Last year, Lionel sold more than $10 million worth of bread.
Mass Marketers Hate to Measure
Direct marketers, of course, realize that measurement is the key to success. Figure out what works, and do it more!
Mass marketers have always resisted this temptation. When my old company approached the head of one of the largest magazine publishers in the world and pitched a technology that would allow advertisers to track who saw their ads and responded to them, he was aghast. He realized that this sort of data could kill his business. He knew that his clients didn’t want the data because then their jobs would get a lot more complex.
Measurement means admitting what’s broken so you can fix it. Mass-media advertising, whether it’s on TV or in print, is all about emotion and craft, not about fixing mistakes. One reason the Internet ad boomlet faded so fast is that it forced advertisers to measure—and to admit what was going wrong.
Well, creators of the Purple Cow must measure as well. Every product, every interaction, every policy is either working (persuading sneezers and spreading the word) or not. Companies that measure will quickly optimize their offerings and make them more virus-worthy
As it becomes easier to monitor informal consumer networks, the winners will be companies that figure out what’s working fastest—and do it more (and figure out what’s not working—and kill it).
Zara, a fast-growing retailer in Europe, changes its clothing line every three or four weeks. By carefully watching what’s working and what’s not, they can evolve their lineup far faster than the competition can ever hope to.
What could you measure? What would that cost? How fast could you get the results? If you can afford it, try it. “If you measure it, it will improve.”
Case Study: Logitech
How did Logitech become the fastest-growing technology company in America? Their mouses (mice?), track-balls, and input devices aren’t the best examples of cutting-edge technology coming out of Silicon Valley, certainly. And the lack of cutting-edge technology is a key part of their success.
Logitech succeeds because management understands that they are in the fashion business. The guts of their devices don’t change often—but the functionality and style change constantly. Management isn’t busy trying to figure out how to innovate a better chip. They are, on the other hand, working frantically to create a better user experience.
For the frequent user, the impact of a cooler, better, easier-to-use input device is profound—so profound that many users are happy to proselytize to their peers. More sneezing of a Purple Cow. Logitech doesn’t crave more advertising. They crave more remarkable products. That’s what their customers want to buy.
Who Wins in the World of the Cow
It’s fairly obvious who the big losers are—giant brands with big factories and quarterly targets, organizations with significant corporate inertia and low thresholds for perceived risks. Once addicted to the cycle of the TV-INDUSTRIAL complex, these companies have built hierarchies and systems that make it awfully difficult to be remarkable.
The obvious winners are the
At first, the French establishment rejected his products, considering them too daring and different. But the overwhelming quality of the loaves and Poilane’s desire to do it right finally won them over.
Virtually every fancy restaurant in Paris now serves Poilane bread. People come from all over the world to wait in line in front of his tiny shop on Rue de Cherche Midi to buy a huge loaf of sourdough bread—or more likely, several loaves. The company he founded now ships loaves all over the world, turning handmade bread into a global product, one worth talking about.
Last year, Lionel sold more than $10 million worth of bread.
Mass Marketers Hate to Measure
Direct marketers, of course, realize that measurement is the key to success. Figure out what works, and do it more!
Mass marketers have always resisted this temptation. When my old company approached the head of one of the largest magazine publishers in the world and pitched a technology that would allow advertisers to track who saw their ads and responded to them, he was aghast. He realized that this sort of data could kill his business. He knew that his clients didn’t want the data because then their jobs would get a lot more complex.
Measurement means admitting what’s broken so you can fix it. Mass-media advertising, whether it’s on TV or in print, is all about emotion and craft, not about fixing mistakes. One reason the Internet ad boomlet faded so fast is that it forced advertisers to measure—and to admit what was going wrong.
Well, creators of the Purple Cow must measure as well. Every product, every interaction, every policy is either working (persuading sneezers and spreading the word) or not. Companies that measure will quickly optimize their offerings and make them more virus-worthy
As it becomes easier to monitor informal consumer networks, the winners will be companies that figure out what’s working fastest—and do it more (and figure out what’s not working—and kill it).
Zara, a fast-growing retailer in Europe, changes its clothing line every three or four weeks. By carefully watching what’s working and what’s not, they can evolve their lineup far faster than the competition can ever hope to.
What could you measure? What would that cost? How fast could you get the results? If you can afford it, try it. “If you measure it, it will improve.”
Case Study: Logitech
How did Logitech become the fastest-growing technology company in America? Their mouses (mice?), track-balls, and input devices aren’t the best examples of cutting-edge technology coming out of Silicon Valley, certainly. And the lack of cutting-edge technology is a key part of their success.
Logitech succeeds because management understands that they are in the fashion business. The guts of their devices don’t change often—but the functionality and style change constantly. Management isn’t busy trying to figure out how to innovate a better chip. They are, on the other hand, working frantically to create a better user experience.
For the frequent user, the impact of a cooler, better, easier-to-use input device is profound—so profound that many users are happy to proselytize to their peers. More sneezing of a Purple Cow. Logitech doesn’t crave more advertising. They crave more remarkable products. That’s what their customers want to buy.
Who Wins in the World of the Cow
It’s fairly obvious who the big losers are—giant brands with big factories and quarterly targets, organizations with significant corporate inertia and low thresholds for perceived risks. Once addicted to the cycle of the TV-INDUSTRIAL complex, these companies have built hierarchies and systems that make it awfully difficult to be remarkable.
The obvious winners are the
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