One side of mammoth to go, please...

It might be seen as stating the Surprisingly Obvious – but I blame the current recession on Retail Therapy.

This statement might appear to have nothing at all to do with the headline of this post but please bear with me for a minute. I’m sure you’ll all agree, there's nothing as satisfying as walking away from the shops with a ‘bargain’. We get a real buzz out of any new purchase, be it a car, a wide-screen plasma television set, the latest mobile phone, a new outfit, even something a simple as a pair of shoes.

Well I’m no psychologist but I have a theory on this. Back in the good old days of Hunter-Gathering, any Neolithic caveman could arrive back at the den come dinnertime carrying his side of the mammoth that he and his best mate had knocked over that day, knowing that he’d provided for the family and feeling that he’d done a good day’s work. Similarly his partner could show him the bushel of berries or the mixed nut selection that she had gathered during the day. Together with their kids, man and woman could enjoy the fruits of their labours.

But today, after working a forty, fifty or even sixty-hour week, what do we have to show for it? Maybe we arrive back home with a pay packet – really just a wad of paper notes. But nowadays, more often than not, all we have is a pay slip, weekly, fortnightly or even monthly, advising us that the balance of our bank account has been changed. The reality is that our credit with our bank has increased as a result. But to us, emotionally, this is all just abstract numbers. Our inner selves need something more tangible. We really want that experience of walking through the door with our side of mammoth.

In order to feel truly fulfilled and emotionally satisfied, we must convert the wad of paper in our pay packet, or the abstract figures in our bank account, into something real – something that shows the fruits of our labours, something that shows how good we are at providing. So how do we do this? We hit the shops, and spend, spend, spend! And there are whole industries out there devoted to taking our money.

Of course, the good people at our banks that look after our money are shrewd. They know how much we like to spend and how good it makes us feel. And they are prepared to borrow money that we haven’t earned yet, lend it to us to buy the things what we would like to own but can’t afford just yet, and make a tidy sum on the interest payments. Result – we happily borrow this ready cash so that we can buy bigger and fancier sides of mammoth, covered with bling and all the latest features that show all our friends how good we are at providing.

And this is all very well and good – until the credit runs out...

We are - what was it again?

Saw it again on TV the other night. That little ditty coined by the Folk North of the Bombay Hills celebrating the fact that their city was recently voted the World’s Fourth Best City to Live In.

It really goes to show how fragile the average JAFAs self-image must be when they feel the need to make such a song and dance about coming fourth in anything! I mean, think of the fuss and bother involved? First they have to get somebody to come up with suitably catchy tune and lyrics, and then they need to get a whole lot of so-called ‘celebrities’ (‘Mad Butcher’ Peter Leitch, I’m ashamed of you - aren’t you supposed to be a Wellington boy?), grab a few mildly-talented musos and do a whole big ‘Band Aid’ sort of production. After that, of course, they have to go and find some ‘Not For Profit’ organisation to act as beneficiary to make the whole thing appear kosher.

And if it comes down to quality of life - I wonder how many of the people of Manukau City (South Auckland - which, incidentally, has the largest share of Auckland’s population of 1.4 million) can identify with the sentiments of the song?

Well, at least they got the bit about the traffic right...

Nudity on the Hutt Motorway - and other places

OK, perhaps calling it a ‘motorway’ is a bit of a misnomer seeing as it’s got traffic light-controlled intersections and you can ride a bicycle on it... but I must admit to some involvement with the recent appearance of six ‘nude’ males (OK, they were wearing body paint), on the side of State Highway 2 (Lower Hutt) – and various other places around the country (including Auckland – nice to give those JAFAs something to look at as they sit in their traffic jams).

Some years ago, British Progressive Rock group Pink Floyd printed a poster to promote their back catalogue. The poster featured six naked female models, each body-painted with a different Floyd album design. When Daz, lead guitarist with New Zealand’s Pink Floyd Experience, asked me if I could do something similar featuring the band, I accepted the challenge. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

P.S. Went to the Wellington concert last Saturday night and it was just amazing! These guys are really talented musicians with a real passion for the music of Pink Floyd. And the light show is incredible too! Floyd fans take note – if you get a chance you should see these guys!

Under Construction?

No, I’m not talking websites here (websites should never carry the words ‘Under Construction’ - it’s like saying ‘enter at your own risk’ or ‘beware of falling brickwork’). Lately, as temperatures plummet, storm clouds gather overhead and winds reach gale force, we suddenly have a spate of orange cones and men in safety vests digging up the roads.

For a long time comedians have made jokes about road working crews. Like, why do you need two men with stop/go lollipops, one man with a road roller, two trucks and three guys standing watching (one’s there to make the tea), working on a one metre wide by 10 metre long strip of new asphalt? Why, when driving during the weekend or holiday season, do you find yourself driving through ‘road works’ at 30kph for miles and miles while all the machinery is parked well off the road and there isn’t a worker in sight?

I used to think it was just a Kiwi phenomenon (why else was the Ministry of Works commonly referred to as the ‘Ministry of Jerks’?). Until I saw this video the other day. In the 1960’s, at the height of the Vietnam Conflict American singer/songwriter Barry McGuire performed a song "Eve of Destruction", exposing the hypocrisy of modern society. Forty years later comedian Dan Geiger has written new lyrics and made a video about road works!

Apparently Barry really enjoyed it too!

Don’t have a cow, man!

Have a purple cow!

I’ve just finished reading the book Purple Cow – Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. At first impression the thinking behind the Purple Cow is obvious – no matter what the economic circumstance your best chance of business success lies in producing a totally remarkable product or service.

But there’s a lot more to the Purple Cow than that. In today’s mass media and information overload it takes a lot more to get you or your business noticed than a simple ad design, an appropriate logo and strapline or catchy jingle. As Godin succinctly says, it’s “no longer good enough to be good enough” when very good is an everyday occurrence and seldom rates a mention. Hanging out your shingle and running an advertisement in mainstream media is no longer a path to success. Today the most successful businesses are exceptional, remarkable or simply amazing. And that’s where Purple Cow thinking comes in. The book is full of examples where companies have discovered their particular ‘Purple Cow’ and gone on to enjoy the rewards.

A Purple Cow sets you apart from other players. It’s a dynamic point of difference, an ‘out of left field’ approach, a special service or a remarkable product that nobody else offers – yet. And all really successful companies have at least one ‘Purple Cow’. In fact many of the most successful Purple Cow companies are often embarking on finding their next Purple Cow to stay at the forefront of the game. Once you have your particular Purple Cow, your competitors are going to want one too!

Unfortunately the book is not a manual on creating a Purple Cow. There is no plan to follow. There are no rules. A genuine Purple Cow is something that is remarkable in just the right way, at the right time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing – it’s easy to look at a successful business and see their Purple Cow, but without the benefit of hindsight the Purple Cow is a lot harder to spot.

There is, however, a methodology to developing a Purple Cow. Go for the edges. The marketing checklist has been spoken of for years and includes such things as product, pricing, promotion, positioning, publicity and packaging. Review the checklist as it applies to your product to mark out where the edges are. Then test which edge is the most likely to deliver the marketing and financial results that you seek.

Purple Cow thinking is best summed up by the two word headline of Apple Computer’s famous 1997 “Think Different” campaign.

For more information on Purple Cow thinking visit the Purple Cow website www.apurplecow.com or the author’s website www.sethgodin.com.

In the current economic climate, it’s the remarkable companies that are going to survive and prosper. So read the book and think about what your particular Purple Cow might be. And when you’re ready to take it to market, we’d be happy to help!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mini!

I didn’t want to let this April pass without mentioning that it has been 50 years since the launch of that everyday classic car, the Mini. Designed by engineer Alec Issigonis the small car was a revolutionary design featuring transversely-mounted engine and front-wheel drive, rack-and-pinion steering and rubber cone suspension that gave legendary handling, and a surprisingly large passenger space relative to the small overall physical dimensions of the car.

My Mini, affectionately known as ‘The Beast’, was made in 1961, and totally rebuilt in 1983. When I brought it the car was a near basket-case. Every time it rained water flowed through the rust holes in the gutters and exited through the rust holes in the floorpans (not surprisingly the interior smelt like a wet dog). The electrical system was suspect (I even had a small fire under the dashboard one night) and, as with all early Minis, trips in wet weather were fraught with tension lest a curtain of spray from opposing traffic drown the exposed distributor behind the grille and kill the ignition. However when it wasn’t raining ‘The Beast’ was a lot of fun to drive, veering round corners on the metal road I lived on almost sideways, holding on with the aid of a widened rim at each corner and its firm ride on rubber cone springs.

I became so attached to the car that after a year I decided to completely rebuild it to a sort of ‘Cooper’ specification. The rebuild took a whole year and involved stripping the bodyshell back to bare metal and repairing the rust-affected areas (roofline, scuttle, door skins and floorpans), completely rewiring the electrics and repainting and retrimming the interior. The original 850cc A-Series engine was replaced with a larger 1100cc unit (better for the open road and enabling ‘The Beast’ to take on all comers when going uphill) complete with straight-flow exhaust system and a two-inch tailpipe that made the car sound much larger than it actually was. The only thing missing was the set of dual SU carburetteurs that I had always promised myself. Needless to say, I learned a lot that year!

Once completed, ‘The Beast’ was the archetypal 'Boy Racer'! I sold it to my younger brother in 1987. Should have kept it...

Back to the Future... again!

OK. I’ll ’fess up now and admit I watched Back to the Future – again – this weekend.

What a nostalgia trip back to the ’80s! Seeing Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd as in character as Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown. And then there was the car! Doc’s “if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” DeLorean DMC-12 managed to be both awesome and kitsch at the same time. The time-travelling DeLorean is, putting it simply, incredible. Flashing LEDs, digital readouts and lots and lots of buttons – real 1980s technology hardware at work! Sure, there are the reliability problems that I believe were part and parcel of 1980s DeLorean ownership (in fact one or two cars that I have owned that were definitely not DeLoreans suffered from similar problems)! But then the car hits 88mph, the Flux Capacitor kicks in and all that remains are burning tyre tracks scorched across the asphalt! After the movie, still feeling nostalgic, I looked up ‘DeLorean’ and guess what I found?

This press ad for carsguide.com.au is one of a series of three (the other two being the original Knight Rider and The A-Team). The set is totally in keeping with Doc Brown’s workshop from Back to the Future. And what I like best of all is that the image tells the whole story. The only words on the ad are in the tagline ‘Choice is Everything’ and the address for the carsguide website. How often can a designer persuade the client to forgo the headline in an advertisement completely?

Brilliant!