mid-sized and smaller companies looking to increase market share. These are the companies that have nothing to lose, but more important, they realize that they have a lot to gain by changing the rules of the game. Of course, there are big companies that get it and have the guts to take the less risky path, just as there are small companies that are stuck with their current products and strategies.
As I write this, the number-one song in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and a dozen other countries in Europe is about ketchup. The song is called “Aserejé” (also known as “The Ketchup Song”), and it is by three sisters you never heard of. The number-two movie in America is a low-budget animated movie in which talking vegetables act out Bible stories. Neither thing is the sort of product you’d expect from a lumbering media behemoth.
Sam Adams beer was remarkable, and it captured a huge slice of business from Budweiser. Hard Manufacturing’s $3,000 Doernbecher crib opened up an entire segment of the hospital crib market. The electric piano let Yamaha steal an increasingly larger share of the traditional-piano segment away from the entrenched market leaders. Vanguard’s remarkably low-cost mutual funds continue to whale away at Fidelity’s market dominance. BIC lost tons of market share to Japanese competitors when they developed pens that were remarkably fun to write with, just as BIC stole the market away from fountain pens a generation or two earlier.
Case Study: A New Kind of Kiwi
The last time New Zealand successfully introduced a fruit to North America (which in itself is a cool post-modern idea), it was the gooseberry. They renamed it the “kiwi,” introduced it to yuppies, foodies, and upscale supermarkets, and watched it take off.
Today, diffusing an idea about a new fruit is much more difficult. How then to launch a new kiwi, one that’s golden with an edible peel?
Zespri, the only company that knows how to grow the new kiwi, aimed at a niche—Latino foodies. The new kiwi has a lot in common with mangoes and papayas but is different enough to be remarkable. By targeting upscale Latino groceries, Zespri found underserved produce buyers who had both the time and the inclination to try something that was new and exclusive.
So, without advertising at all, Zespri gets the fruit in front of an audience of risk-taking sneezers. If Zespri is aggressive in doing in-store tasting, they’ve got an excellent chance of working their way through the Latino community and then eventually crossing over to the rest of the mass market. Last year, Zespri managed to sell more than $100 million worth of golden kiwi fruit, but unless you’re Latino, you’ve probably never even seen it.
The Benefits of Being the Cow
So it’s an interesting paradox. As the world gets more turbulent, more and more people seek safety. They want to eliminate as much risk as they can from their businesses and their careers.
And most of the people mistakenly believe that the way to do that is to play it safe. To hide. So fewer and fewer people work to create a new Purple Cow.
At the same time, the marketplace is getting faster and more fluid. Yes, we’re too busy to pay attention, but a portion of the population is more restless than ever. Some people are happy to switch their long distance service, their airline, their accounting firm—whatever it takes to get an edge. If the bank teller annoys you, well, there’s another bank right down the street. So while fewer people attempt to become the Cow, the rewards for being remarkable continue to increase ! At work is the ability of a small portion of eager experimenters to influence the rest of us.
As the ability to be remarkable continues to demonstrate its awesome value in the marketplace, the rewards that follow the Purple Cow increase.
Whether you develop a new insurance policy, record a hit record, or write a best-selling, groundbreaking book, the money, prestige, power, and
As I write this, the number-one song in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and a dozen other countries in Europe is about ketchup. The song is called “Aserejé” (also known as “The Ketchup Song”), and it is by three sisters you never heard of. The number-two movie in America is a low-budget animated movie in which talking vegetables act out Bible stories. Neither thing is the sort of product you’d expect from a lumbering media behemoth.
Sam Adams beer was remarkable, and it captured a huge slice of business from Budweiser. Hard Manufacturing’s $3,000 Doernbecher crib opened up an entire segment of the hospital crib market. The electric piano let Yamaha steal an increasingly larger share of the traditional-piano segment away from the entrenched market leaders. Vanguard’s remarkably low-cost mutual funds continue to whale away at Fidelity’s market dominance. BIC lost tons of market share to Japanese competitors when they developed pens that were remarkably fun to write with, just as BIC stole the market away from fountain pens a generation or two earlier.
Case Study: A New Kind of Kiwi
The last time New Zealand successfully introduced a fruit to North America (which in itself is a cool post-modern idea), it was the gooseberry. They renamed it the “kiwi,” introduced it to yuppies, foodies, and upscale supermarkets, and watched it take off.
Today, diffusing an idea about a new fruit is much more difficult. How then to launch a new kiwi, one that’s golden with an edible peel?
Zespri, the only company that knows how to grow the new kiwi, aimed at a niche—Latino foodies. The new kiwi has a lot in common with mangoes and papayas but is different enough to be remarkable. By targeting upscale Latino groceries, Zespri found underserved produce buyers who had both the time and the inclination to try something that was new and exclusive.
So, without advertising at all, Zespri gets the fruit in front of an audience of risk-taking sneezers. If Zespri is aggressive in doing in-store tasting, they’ve got an excellent chance of working their way through the Latino community and then eventually crossing over to the rest of the mass market. Last year, Zespri managed to sell more than $100 million worth of golden kiwi fruit, but unless you’re Latino, you’ve probably never even seen it.
The Benefits of Being the Cow
So it’s an interesting paradox. As the world gets more turbulent, more and more people seek safety. They want to eliminate as much risk as they can from their businesses and their careers.
And most of the people mistakenly believe that the way to do that is to play it safe. To hide. So fewer and fewer people work to create a new Purple Cow.
At the same time, the marketplace is getting faster and more fluid. Yes, we’re too busy to pay attention, but a portion of the population is more restless than ever. Some people are happy to switch their long distance service, their airline, their accounting firm—whatever it takes to get an edge. If the bank teller annoys you, well, there’s another bank right down the street. So while fewer people attempt to become the Cow, the rewards for being remarkable continue to increase ! At work is the ability of a small portion of eager experimenters to influence the rest of us.
As the ability to be remarkable continues to demonstrate its awesome value in the marketplace, the rewards that follow the Purple Cow increase.
Whether you develop a new insurance policy, record a hit record, or write a best-selling, groundbreaking book, the money, prestige, power, and
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