Too Important for the Marketing Deptartment

* Fundamentally different way of talking about this

* Nobody cares about sliced bread

* Wonder made sliced bread the greatest thing:

The Story: in 1913 some guy named Otto invents the bread slicer, making sliced bread possible. Presumably it's great. Otto patents bread slicing but fails to launch a successful multi-million dollar business. Twenty years later, Wonder starts selling sliced bread. They DO become a successful multi-million dollar business. Because they had an idea that could spread.

* "ideas that spread win"

* Do we need to spread ideas??

* We are not in the function business

* winners have both - function and ideas that spread

* Godin's 1st law of software: If it doesn't connect why bother?  

     * (better build the marketing into it, market itself)

* The Century of Idea Diffusion (As Seen on TV)

* TV Industrial complex (buy ads -> get distribution -> sell products -> profit -> buy more ads...)

* Leads to average products for average people: If you're going to market to EVERYONE, you need a product that EVERYONE wants, which means it needs to be an average sort of product.

* Solving a problem people don't think they have

     * they aren't looking for a solution

     * so you're invisible.

Hyperclutter is the overload of products or options in one area. For example, you can buy a few hundred different coffee beverages in Starbucks. Trying to compete in a field like that is really hard, because it's so hard to stand out.

* Hyperclutter is not your friend (especially for small companies)

     * because no one cares

     * serious problem: the red (traffic) light never turns green

* Bottled water == tap water in a plastic container

     * and yet...    hydrate magazine, water salad, diet water,

     * dealing with clutter by making more clutter

     * branding ourselves to death

     * a.k.a. spam

* On Highway 11 there's a million coffee shops and one Candy Shoppe: Rita (the owner of the Candy Shoppe) will tell you...

     * fact 1: average customer spends $60-$65 a visit

     * fact 2: so popular people risk their lives to buy licorice

     * fact 3: $175,000 last year

* secret to highway 11: people doing something totally different are doing well. BUT:

     * The other secret: it's far easier to get a loan to open a coffee shop on Highway 11. Bucking the trend means going it alone because few people will support you.

* Southern France: cows are boring

     * what if it was a purple cow???

     * a purple cow is remarkable

     * if your software is remarkable, people will talk about it.

* stir fried wikipedia...

* We are in a full scale industrial revolution

* meatball sunday is the unfortunate combination of two perfectly good items

* not to figure out how to force this new medium to your will, but to have the oppportunity to build stuff that works for this new medium

* Josiah Wedgewood  (porcelain products)

* not marketing: changed what it meant to make stuff

* marketing pyramid... (with marketing at the top)

* ...strategy ends up making meatballs

* direct communication between user and company

* everybody is now equally loud

* "wanna see my socks?" (gives people something to talk about) (Seth shows his mismatched socks)

* people are going to tell stories: give them a story they want to tell

* the story matters: google/yahoo swap

* given a choice people will take it.

* we all now compete in an infinite marketplace

* everyone can have their own media channel

* who vs how many

* goal should be "who" can i interrupt, not "how many"

* the gatekeepers (in companies) are being replaced by leaders

* .. maybe bottom up

* .. maybe sideways

* the Seinfeld curve (either $250 tix in vegas, or watch for free on tv)

* ubiquitous or scarce, no money in the middle. (no $90 Seinfeld product)

Instead of   "Customers for your products" you need "Products for your customers"

Instead of   "Success before commitment" you need "Commitment before success"

NEW CYCLE:  

The Fashion Permission Complex (Be Remarkable -> Tell a story to Your Sneezers -> They spread the word -> Get Permission -> Be Remarkable ... )

Step 1 is the hardest, most important, most people skip it

Bonus (not included because Seth asked us not to...)