Are you bringing a purple cow to market?
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2004
With premarket just around the corner, word on the street is that exhibitors are heading to High Point with boat loads of new product. The problem, at least from my perspective, is that, all too often, introductions look remarkably similar. And sadly, when that happens, the natural tendency is to shop primarily on price.
I know the Marines are looking for a few good men. As for me, I am on the prowl for a few purple cows — the kind discussed by Seth Godin in his best-selling book, "Purple Cow."
For those who haven't read it, Godin, a marketing maven, says he got the idea while he and his family were driving through the French countryside. He recalled how they initially were mesmerized by the hundreds of cows grazing in pastures right next to the road.
However, within a few miles, he and his family started ignoring the cows. He writes, "The new cows were just like the old cows, and what was once amazing was now common. Worse than common: It was boring." At that point, Godin recalled thinking how well a purple cow would stand out among the scores of look-alike brown cows.
Are you bringing a purple cow to market? If not, you should. And keep in mind that it does not have to be in the form of a suite, collection or even a single item.
Your purple cow canand should be anything that makes you more visible and more exciting to your customer. As Godin notes, your purple cow should be remarkable. Remarkable things, Godin says, are worth talking about and paying attention to.
The folks at Studio RTA, a supplier of home office and home entertainment furniture, appear to have read Godin's book, or at least taken a page from it. The company has just produced a very hip interactive CD that combines a narrative voice-over, video, film, computer animation and graphic images to create a visual and informative overview of Studio RTA without the limitations of a printed brochure. In other words, a purple cow.
The Studio Tour, as they call it, begins with a narrated introduction that features photo animation of a desk assembling itself to transform an ordinary room into a fully functional home office. Next, the tour moves into a filmed segment of Studio RTA's founder and president, Paul Reitzin. From there the tour continues, providing a history of the company.
Other stops on The Studio Tour include a look at the company's innovations in design, packaging, customer support and a lot more.
While resources have provided this kind of information for years, Studio RTA took that brown cow, fed it some technology and now has a very cool purple cow.
What kind of purple cow are you bringing to market? If you have one, drop me an e-mail at rallegrezza@reedbusiness.com.
Opinion columns are available online atwww.furnituredotday.com.
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