Yes, it’s little tiny things that make people take action. Look at these pictures from Neil’s Yard dairy and the local coffee purveyor. They fit a certain worldview and they tell a story that earns them three or four times what others are paying at the supermarket. Sure, it’s better, but how much better?
I think that begs the question. The real question is "better at what?" They are better at making you feel special.
Taken at Harrod’s. It’s butter. No it’s not for sale. At least that’s what they told me.
Every person I’ve met on this trip is brave, unflappable and open-minded. But they have very weird taste in centerpieces still.
Joey Smith pointed me to a site, which pointed me to: splorp . critique . spirals. Worth a read, especially if you get dizzy easily (or if you make logos).
Several hundred years ago, a huge piece of the economy of the Netherlands was based on whale oil. This oil painting gives you a small glimpse of what an industry this was.
No question, those in charge believed that whale oil would never run out, and that if some sort of legislation or new world order came along that threatened the supply of dead whales, they would fight it–the very survival of their families were at stake.
Whale oil, of course, is long gone. And the Netherlands are still here, better than ever.
Some of the whale oil magnates and whale oil processors and whale oil catering guys in the silver trucks (okay, maybe they didn’t have silver trucks) got while the getting was good. They learned how to do something else once they saw the industry begin to decay. They took their assets–their capital, their leverage, their training–and used it to get a headstart doing some other mercantile activity. And they thrived as a result.
We’re in the middle of the biggest shift(s) of the last century–whole industries are disappearing, worldviews are changing and the rules are being rewritten. One thing I’ve noticed in Amsterdam (I spoke to about 400 entrepreneurs yesterday, not all of them young, not all of them independent, not all of them homogeneous) is that there’s a real bias for action here. People here are itching to get on to the next thing. That and I couldn’t find any whale oil for sale. Not one drop.
Two years ago this month in Fast Company, I wrote:
We don’t expect a pigeon to wise up and change its behavior. But what about your boss? Have you ever had a boss who said, "I’ve looked at all the best thinking on [insert issue here: factory expansion, layoffs, global warming, stem-cell research, foreign trade], and I’m going to change my mind; my old position was wrong, and this is what we should do instead"? Or is your boss, well, more like a pigeon?
[click below for the article]The Threat of Pigeons and Other Fundamentalists.
Not too much has changed, I’m afraid.
Chris Houchens (Shotgun Marketing BLOG) submits this quote from an arctic explorer:
"What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public."
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, "Discovery", 1964
For some reason, it seems like I pick on Red Lobster. It’s not a personal thing, it just happens.
Gordie Meyer sent this over (from Restaurant News):
Red Lobster Says It’s From Maine
ORLANDO, FL — Nearly four decades after it was launched in Florida, Red Lobster has decided it hails from the state of Maine–despite there not being a single unit in the Pine Tree State.
“We’ve given consumers a lot of clues over the years we’re from Maine,” president Kim Lopdrup told a group of analysts. “If you look at our menu, it’s the only state identified on the menu. That is where consumers are convinced we’re from.
“We’re from Maine,” Lopdrup stressed.
That may come as a surprise to Maine residents, who have to venture well out of state just to enjoy a meal at Red Lobster; the nearest unit is in Wethersfield, CT–some 137 miles away.
Maine restaurateurs weren’t buying it either. “They were from Maine and they pulled out,” said Scott Belanger, manager of the Sea Basket Restaurant in Wiscasset, ME. “Why aren’t they here serving the great people of Maine?”
“If the company would like to claim their roots, like ours, are on the shores of New England,” added Susan Paquete of the Weathervane Seafood Restaurants chain, “then perhaps they should try living with and serving the fine people of Maine.”
Duncan from the UK writes:
I am from Brighton in the UK and read your blog on a regular basis. Last night I saw the concluding episode of the Michael Peterson ‘Death on the Staircase’ trial in the US (Durham). This morning I read your ‘Liar’s Blog’ and it got me thinking. It seems to me that the prosecution told stories that matched the worldview of the jury. The defence however seemed to focus on the facts. Who won? The story tellers! Even the prosecutions own witnesses told stories. The defence pretty much refuted everything the prosecution came up with. It’s not just marketers and politicians who are liars. I understand that stories are acceptable for marketing ?? we all expect that. But should it work in court too? Why can’t a judge assess whether a lawyer is ‘marketing’ to the jury? It seems that the media are driving lawyers toward a marketing approach to justice. To focus purely on facts is to risk losing the case. All a lawyer has to do is understand the prevailing worldview of the jury (even select a jury with the appropriate worldview) and then tell the right story. Frightening!
Let’s say you work at eBay.
Your site goes down. How many people will drop what they are doing and figure out how to get it back up and running?
Everyone from PR to server guys will be on the case.
Or let’s say you work at Aetna. A fire rips through a warehouse and destroys a million policy records.
How many people, from the CEO to the actuaries will get on the stick and make something happen?
Now, imagine you work at GM. I know, it’s hard, but imagine.
For years, you’ve been designing, making and marketing stuff in a mediocre way. No one dropped what they were doing to fix the problem. It’s not an emergency.
Of course, it is an emergency. It’s a bigger emergency than the things you can buy insurance against, because it’s endemic, hard to measure and ultimately fatal.
Have a nice long weekend if it’s a long weekend where you live. And when you get back to work, figure out where the mediocre emergency lies and stamp it out. Even better, start today. After all, it’s an emergency.
Aaron Sagray points us to www.dontclick.it.
