Today Seth points us to senseless precision that muddies the distinction between what’s important and what’s not. Don Norman points out overstating precision can also be lethal in his lecture on the perils of intelligent devices. The entire 90 minute lecture is fascinating, but his comments on precision start at 33 minutes:
Yesterday a friend told me of a life-changing experience as a 12 year old kid. He was playing rugby and defending the try line as a very large player bore down on him, intent on scoring a try. For the uninitiated to rugby, the effects of big rugby hits look like this:
Deciding that a) his very large opponent was likely to score a try anyway and b) a trip to the hospital or morgue was likely, my friend stepped aside. At that moment a smaller teammate stepped up and comprehensively took this very large player out, preventing the try and saving the day.
My friend learned two valuable lessons:
In turn he told me his story so that I’d realize I was the last line of defense for one aspect of a client’s business. It stuck in my head and changed my mind.
Chip Heath and Dan Heath tell us about idea that are made to stick – they say that memorable ideas are:
These map to ‘SUCCESs’ for easy recall.
If my friend had merely told me some facts I might not have paid close attention or responded. Instead he changed my mind with a SUCCESsful story that I may never forget.
Here’s full-page print advertisement that appeared yesterday on the back page of the ‘Financial Review Investor’ insert of Sydney’s Sun Herald:
The ad is timely – people are greatly concerned about their investments. It’s authoritative, credible and therefore trustworthy. It’s also located correctly – it’s in an insert for investors. And the message is clear – don’t panic.
The sole omission is permission. The company could have offered readers the opportunity to receive valuable insights like this in the future – instead they offer only advisors and a web site. An opportunity lost.
Most employers dislike, dissuade and/or discipline argumentative employees but in doing so they miss the point – employees argue because they care. As a result, most employees are whingers or quiet, having accepted the inability in instigate change a long, long time ago.
I very much agree with Keith McFarland, who points out the need for ‘insultants’, people willing to ask the tough questions that cause a company to think critically about its fundamental assumptions. The value of insultants is that they will go to great lengths to get their companies to reevaluate a position or adapt to a changing environment.”
Yesterday I drove past a car dealership with a large animated sign saying:
Your (sic) crazy if you don’t buy your car from [us]!
Either way you look at it, it’s a stupid thing to say. The literal meaning is a claim that the vast majority of car buyers (who buy from other dealers) have a mental illness. Not only is it unwise to mock prospective customers (who have previously purchased their cars elsewhere), the statistical rate of mental illness in our community would indicate that this claim is patently untrue.
The obvious intended meaning, however, is that this dealership believes itself to be so fantastic that customers who use other dealers miss out. But miss out on what? They haven’t bothered to tell us. Instead of telling us what we would find remarkable about them, they’ve instead decided to shout ‘We’re fantastic’ at tens of thousands of passing motorists.
Later in the day I saw a life-size poster of a male hairdresser standing in front of four models with bad wigs. A tagline boldly proclaimed:
[Hairdresser’s name]. More than just a hairdresser.
What does ‘more’ mean? What about him being ‘more’ is of any use to me? What’s the intent behind the phrase ‘just a hairdresser’ (why denigrate your core offering)? Finally, why give the models bad wigs when you could show four women with fantastic haircuts?
We consumers don’t want vendors telling us that they’re fantastic – we’ll be the judge of that.
Today I received a handwritten note from a local real estate agent informing me that she has ‘a genuine buyer looking for a property in this vicinity’. I was impressed by the time and attention she had given me until I realised that it was a photocopy, made on coloured paper to appear genuine. I don’t like being taken for a ride – even one that lasts only a few seconds – and most definitely will not be trusting her with the sale of my house.
On the weekend I needed to use a service station restroom but didn’t need fuel. As I was deciding what unnecessary item I would buy from the service station store in reciprocation, I encountered a sign sternly informing me that toilets were for customer use only. As I don’t pay for the use of toilets, I felt relieved of the need to reciprocate and left without buying anything at all.
Last week I visited a tea shop. Below every display of teapots and other expensive items were signs informing me that if I broke anything I must pay for it. I had assumed that this was the case before I read the sign – now I felt accused of being both careless and unwilling to take responsibility for my actions. Instead of freely touching and interacting with the beautiful teapots – a commitment/consistency step toward purchase – I stood at the same respectful distance I would give priceless Ming Dynasty china in a museum.
More harm than good.
The probable journey of luxury handbags:
Why are consumers satisfied by so thin a veneer of luxury? Do they not know or just not care what goes on behind the scenes?
There is momentum building for systems that make the ecological footprint of products visible to consumers – a history that travels with each product. This will no doubt reveal all aspects of production, including the source & conditions of labour for each product. Manufacturers will find transparency forced upon them – those who move fast to voluntarily and openly provide transparency will be the winners. Will this transparency also limit the mystique that marketers can generate around a finished product?
If you thought you’d seen everything there was to see in food, you haven’t come across Homaru Canto of moto cuisine. He offers a degustation menu that’s so different it’s truly remarkable, using liquid nitrogen, class 4 lasers & a patented polymer oven to create visual and textural plays on food beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
This may not be your thing – Howard doesn’t care. I’m sure the place is booked months in advance by people who absolutely love it. Here’s what he and business partner Ben Roach had to say at PopTech in 2006:
I’ve been enjoying the BusinessWeek Innovation of the Week podcast series recently – here’s a quick summary of & some thoughts on the Nike House of Hoops retail store discussed in this episode.
Niche
No longer ‘all athletic things to all people’, the Nike House of Hoops concept enables Nike to ‘go much deeper into people’s lives’, with this retail concept exclusively for people who consider themselves to be part of the basketball community. Nike are doing this in other areas – the second floor of Nike Town New York, for instance, is dedicated to the runners who use Central Park.
Consumers are forming into tribes & identity is the next big marketing tactic. Big brands must align closely with each tribe so as to not lose ground to smaller, niche players.
A physical presence
A website can only go so far – this retail presence allows them to be part of their everyday communities, making a stronger relationship with consumers through a physical experience. Nike will localize each store to the immediate community, allowing customers to have a sense of personal ownership.
Brand leverage & partnering
The store is called ‘Nike House of Hoops presented by Footlocker’. Here’s a paraphrase of a Nike representative on the Footlocker relationship:
We ‘ve had a longstanding relationship with Footlocker, literally from their first store in the 70s. Footlocker represents the biggest basketball destination in the US so it was only natural that we progressed to this level of co-operative association. The world is changing and you can’t do everything by yourself any more.
Even Nike leverages other brands – think about that for a second. What are the implications for your business?
Learning
Nike are planning to launch 50 of these stores but they want to learn about this first store first – even the first few hours of opening provided valuable insights for them.
You can invest heavily into research and design but even Nike doesn’t know what will happen until you open the doors to the public. Nike have learned not to become complacent nor to rest on their laurels which is what innovation is all about – being prepared to make mistakes, optimise and relaunch as you go. If you’re not prepared to make mistakes, you can’t innovate.
