You're driving down a country road with your family.
It's a hot summers day, the windows are rolled down, Livin' on a Prayer starts playing on the radio.
Miles have passed, nothing except the same old farms are copy-pasted over and over again.
You might see a variety of barns and a handful of different animals too, but nothing's gonna interrupt and take attention away from Bon Jovi.
As you drive along, all of a sudden you see something in the distance...
It's something purple?
*You cut the music*
"Guys uhmm, you need to check this out."
Standing there, its eyes locked with yours.
It's not only you now, everyone in the car sees it too, jaws are dropped.
"Is that a freaking purple cow?"
What the heck is going on here?
The "purple cow" isn't actually real.
The story itself outlines how the mundane, the average, the generic run-of-the-mill is simply just ignored.
It takes something new, something exciting, something so damn remarkable you just want to scream. That's when it grabs your attention.
I'm not the originator of this concept.
It was brought to light by the almighty Seth Godin—renowned writer and marketing maestro.
He wrote a book titled "Purple Cow".
In the book, Seth discusses that playing it safe might be the number one cause of failure in business. Basically Running the "appeal to all" strategy.
It might work for Coke, Pepsi, McDonald's, Walmart, Disney, Toyota, Visa, Kellogg's, and all the other big Fortune 500 companies too.
Now you might have an eyebrow raised and think I'm crazy.
I listed some of the most successful brands of all time.
Being generic works for them now, but they've been around for decades.
What I'm saying here is, it won't work for you.
Why it won't work
The companies I mentioned all started in a different era.
This was when television and direct advertising reigned supreme.
Around this time it was likely that you would see an advertisement, and that's all it took to get you going to the store to opt for what you saw on the screen.
I remember when I was a kid, seeing a leprechaun chase kids for lucky charms.
And to this day when I crave something sweet, it's the brand I pick—talk about dividends LOL.
Sadly, we're in the shadow realm of 2024, annnnnd it's not that simple anymore.
We block it all out.
Either ignoring it or with an actual adblocker.
Let's say you get an unskippable ad, you pull out your phone and check out someone's story in the downtime.
You're more likely to get annoyed rather than intrigued.
That's the price of being generic, it's the cold hard truth.
That's why it won't cut it anymore.
At this point, it's a straight-up risk to play it safe.
How to moo
There's no clear-cut strategy to being a purple cow.
If there was then being purple wouldn't be so incredible anyways.
What you can do though is take the insight that being generic is a no-go and apply it to your strategy.
If being vanilla doesn't work, make yourself a hot-fudge bacon-topped sundae, funny enough that's exactly what Burger King did.
A prime example of a purple cow.
Things like that start conversations, they start controversy.
"Does it even taste good?", "That can't be healthy for you.", "Have they lost their minds?"
Now that's some grade A marketing.
It'll be scary, especially if you're used to playing it safe.
But what's better, failing and learning what doesn't work, or playing a losing game from the start?
Time and time again we see purple cows, they pop up all over the place; and their originators, normal people like you and me.
The best way to make a purple cow is to learn from the past.
But don't go copy exactly what you see.
Let's hop back in our car and keep driving, now imagine you're seeing purple cows everywhere for the rest of your trip home.
By the time you're back, the cow ain't so remarkable anymore, no one in the car even bats an eye.
See what I'm getting at here?
Take-Aways from Seth
If you haven't read Purple Cow, you should.
I can't go into as much detail as the book, but I can give you a few of my key takeaways.
Sneezers and the Ideavirus A wicked concept to grasp. The idea is that you don't need to appeal to everyone. Rather get the right people on board who'll spread your ideas and messages for you. A counter to traditional advertising methods like you've seen on TV. He refers to people infected as sneezers, and they're prime hosts for your Ideavirus'—insane to me that he knew user-generated content and influencer marketing would take off back in 2003.
"The greatest thing since sliced bread" A saying known by the masses. In 1912, Otto Frederick Rohwedder created a simple yet groundbreaking innovation. It was the first commercial bread-slicing machine. It was a complete and utter flop. Based on how loaded the statement "The greatest thing since sliced bread" is, and the context it's used in, it's ironic, to say the least. It did eventually catch on... Something like 20 years later. The people over at Wonder Bread found it and started marketing sliced bread to the masses. Sometimes a wonderful idea can take some time to spread. Stay persistent, and be agile. Have a little patience, and you could surprise yourself. You might just create the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Logitech Case Study How does Logitech continue to dominate the computer accessories and gadgets business? Because their management understands they're actually in the fashion business. The internals of their devices don't change all that much, rather they continue to improve the user experience. They make cooler, lighter, easier-to-use devices year after year. And that's exactly what their fan base wants. They really hit the mark. So much so that people go out of their way to brag about it and recommend it to their friends. The book was written well over 20 years ago, and Logitech's cow is still mooing. Just last year I fell victim, spent over 200$ on my G pro-Superlight (Computer Mouse)—manufactured for under 10 bucks. Why? Because all my friends had one, they said it would be silly to consider anything else. And at this point, if anyone asks me, I'll probably make the same recommendation too.
South Park Comedy Central ran focus groups when testing out the show. With women the show received a 15% approval rating—a record low. Three of the women who participated in the group actually had such a hatred for the show that they bursted into tears. This is terrifying for a network. But as foresight shows, they actually made the right move. I can't even begin to tell you how much revenue and exposure that show has generated over the years. Even now in the first quarter of 2024, a new South Park game is being released. Moo.
Something to open up your mind
Amy's Baking Company
A small restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona.
Owned by husband and wife team Amy & Samy Bouzaglo.
Amy ran the kitchen, while Samy ran the front of house.
Brought to the public eye by Gordon Ramsey—celebrity chef and restaurateur—on his program Kitchen Nightmares.
In the show, Ramsey visits failing restaurants, giving expert advice on what needs to happen to turn these businesses around.
Most of the time, the restaurants are unmaintained and shockingly gross—rotten food in the fridges, gunk all over the walls and floors, and bug infestations are only some of the horrors.
But this wasn't the problem for Amy's.
The restaurant was incredibly well-kept.
Super clean, the decor was modern and inviting, labels and dates on all food containers, even her desserts were spot on.
Ramsey was impressed—I've watched every episode, and this rarely happens.
The one criticism he had was that the food—non-baked goods—was mediocre at best.
Granted she wasn't a seasoned chef like Gordon.
From an outside perspective it appeared to be an easy fix, get a bit better at cooking and your problems will go away, SO YOU THOUGHT!
Upon a few more minutes of viewing it became apparent, the couple was insane.
They harassed anyone who complained.
Screamed and threatened to call the police if uneaten food was sent back.
They mistreated their staff, verbally abusing them. Even taking tips because "the waitresses didn't work hard enough to deserve them".
Gordon didn't stand a chance.
Actually the first and only time in the history of the show that he ever gave up, it was impossible to get through to them, he had failed.
So what does this have to do with the purple cow?
Well after the show had aired, rather than the place closing down, they became a hit!
People far and wide visited the establishment, Amy's put themselves on the map.
Now known far and wide as the only place that Ramsey couldn't fix.
This is an extreme example, I know, but it's one that came to my mind right after reading Seth's book because of its obscurity.
They did ended up closing down the restaurant on September 1, 2015—running a business with that kind of attitude is not the best long-term strategy.
Although the husband and wife team have built up such a following that they've moved on to other ventures.
It definitely goes to show that sometimes, even something so unexpected, could actually turn out to be a purple cow too.
Ready to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary?
If you find yourself inspired to stand out like a purple cow, but don't know where to start.
With knowledge, insight, and passion for marketing, I’m here to guide you.
Consider this: 58% of B2B marketers have seen an increase in sales and revenue through content marketing in the past 2 years.
Connect with me if you're ready to make your brand not just seen, but truly remarkable.
Send me an email, and let’s discuss how to turn your marketing strategy into a purple cow of your industry.
Additional Reading
In 2002, Seth Godin asked a simple question that turned the business world upside down: What do Starbucks and JetBlue and Apple and Dutch Boy and Hard Candy have that other companies don't? How did they confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind formerly tried-and-true brands?
Amazon link for Seth's book - Purple Cow
Seth Godin is an author, entrepreneur and most of all, A teacher. Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker.
Here's a link to Seth's Blog
Gordon Ramsey is a wicked cool guy, he posts all episodes of Kitchen Nightmares for free on YouTube. here is a link to the Amy's Baking Company episode, check it out if you're interested!
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