Creating Blue Oceans

When consumers take extreme measures

As a sequel to previous posts detailing what can happen when consumers change the utility of an offering for themselves, I promised one more, outragous example. Well, here it is.

The story is about Larry Walters, a California truck driver. One day in 1982, Larry had a free afternoon, and he decided to create some excitement for himself. He rigged forty-five weather balloons to his lawn chair, packed a lunch, grabbed a BB gun, planted himself in the chair, and ceremoniously released the supporting ropes. He estimated that he would rise about thirty feet (10 meters) and gently levitate over his garden for a couple of hours. Instead, he quickly ascended to the incredible height of sixteen thousand feet (approximately 5,000 meters). 

After a while he got cold and scared, shot some of the balloons in order to descend, drifted over the Los Angeles airport (interfering with air traffic), and crashed into power lines as he came down (knocking out power to some parts of the city). In this case, I think Larry acted not out of desperation but perhaps boredom or curiosity. He clearly was not satisfied with the more banal and conventional use of a lawn chair, and he took it upon himself to transform it into a cockpit.  What extreme uses might your consumers dream up for your offerings?  And what insights would they generate about your relationship with your consumers?

More on this very theme awaits you at the Slingshot website and in my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

Turning customers into fans

How do you get a naked burglar out of an air conditioning vent? A bit more generally, how do you capture the hearts and attention of consumers? This later question is central to the concept of consumer infatuation, which I discuss in Slingshot. Several companies quickly come to mind that have spawned devoted fans, such as Harley-Davidson, Apple or Virgin. But how about a company that sells an industrial product? Could it also unleash a passionate affiliation by consumers? Here is one such example. 

You may not know that a can of WD-40 is found in 83% of American households. Even more impressively, WD-40 has an ardent following. The company of the same name stokes the love for its multi-use product by inviting customers to share stories of their most unique product applications. It celebrated Y2K by running a campaign to collect 2,000 uses for WD-40 during which it received 300,000 submissions, including preventing snow from sticking to a snow shovel, removing gum from hair and even firemen using it to dislodge a naked burglar trapped in an air conditioning vent! 

The company has a 100,000+ member strong fan club whose members continue to share their diverse experiences and tips. Here you can take a peek at the official list of 2,000 uses for WD-40. Surely there’s one that will infatuate you.  

[Image courtesy of WD-40.]

 

When consumers take matters into their own hands

Following up on my post from last week, here is just one humorous example of what can happen when consumers take extreme measures and change the utility of an offering for themselves. 

In 1994, seventy-three-year-old Alvin Straight drove his ’66 John Deere lawnmower 250 miles (400 km) from Lauren, Iowa, to Mount Zion, Wisconsin, to see his ailing brother. He made this choice because his eyesight was too poor to qualify for a driver’s license, and he was too proud to hitchhike. Going along at five miles per hour (8 km/h), he met numerous interesting people along the way. His journey was a national sensation and the subject of a major 1999 movie by David Lynch, entitled Straight Story.

To be sure, through his radical act, Alvin Straight was not expressing his satisfaction with John Deere mowers per se, but rather his frustration with the general lack of transportation options for his particular predicament. In desperation, he created an entire new utility for the mower.

Such unexpected bursts of consumer ingenuity may unveil completely new strategic horizons for companies. Should John Deere consider getting into the business of personal transport? Does Alvin represent a previously overlooked, sizable consumer group? Is a transition to this kind of business application possible or feasible? Asking such questions is what stimulates exploration beyond existing market boundaries, allowing companies to drive markets and achieve continuous relevance. 

Can you think of similarly unusual applications of products? Stay tuned, as I have a gem of one for you in an upcoming post! In the meantime more on this very theme awaits you at the Slingshot website and in my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

[Original illustration © 2012 Slingshot.] 

When the honeymoon ends

What happens when consumers start to express dissatisfaction and their comments go unanswered? There are a couple of possibilities. 

One, if they have the opportunity, consumers will eventually turn away from the offering altogether. For example, in the case of the in-flight entertainment system, more and more passengers are bringing their own mobile music, game, and movie players onboard, thereby opting out of using the built-in systems altogether. But even if consumers don’t fully turn away or are not yet in a position to do so, they become more and more reluctant users—so they voice their displeasure more and more and their affinity for the offering less and less, continuously turning from fans into disgruntled critics. Which is what may happen with me unless iTunes finds a way to address what I perceive to be its weaknesses, or if a new carry-on bag catches my eye that is just as cool as my Samsonite but much more user friendly.

The other possibility, which is much more rare, intriguing and unpredictable, is that consumers will take matters into their own hands and change the utility of an offering for themselves. Next week, I’ll share some related examples. In the meantime, more on this very theme awaits you at the Slingshot website and in my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

Pinching pennies vs. winning hearts

Although the airline industry is brimming with opportunities to infatuate and enrich the lives of travelers, for the most part it has left this tantalizing opportunity unexplored. Let’s take a peek at recent happenings at American Airlines to see the fallacy of focusing solely on slashing costs instead. 

Via the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Management Blog:

The idea that American is going to cut its way to profitability is ridiculous. A survey by the International Air Transport Assn. (the industry’s trade group) shows that people are trying to avoid flying because the experience is so poor and many of the airlines’ best customers have gone, when they can, to flying privately. The problem with American Airlines, as with the U.S. industry—and in fact many businesses—is not that its costs are too high but that its revenues are too low. Making the flying experience worse by fighting with the people who deliver that service doesn’t seem like a sensible prescription for success.

[Image via A.G. Photographe.]

Re-Imagining boundaries for the Greater Good

When the stakes are especially high—as in the case of worldwide sustainable economic growth and stability—then continuously re-imagining boundaries is a must. And that was the focus of the Global Impact Economic Forum in Washington DC on April 27-28.  I  had the opportunity to attend this first ever, invitation-only event which was hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and brought together global leaders in developmental capital, sustainability, social entrepreneurship and innovation. Trailblazers such as Sir Richard Branson, General Wesley Clark and Jigar Shah were participants. The goal of the event was to create alignment on how best to affect positive change around the world at the intersection of government, philanthropy, and business. This of course speaks right to the heart of Slingshot: Re-imagining boundaries, combining existing, but traditionally separate components in a way that they create exceptional value. 

Check out the interesting remarks from the event by Hillary Clinton at the US State Department’s Global Economic Forum’s website. 

[Image via Huffington Post.]

 

We can’t get no satisfaction

Dovetailing on my previous post, while there is no such thing as a perfectly and continuously satisfied consumer, there is such a thing as an infatuated consumer. As with personal relationships, infatuation occurs when consumers first come into contact with a product or a service that deeply resonates with them. Consequently, they become temporarily blinded by any shortcomings or possible defects and are in a trance of positive affiliation. Think of the first time you came into contact with a product or service that became one of your all-time favorite purchases. Remember how elated you felt and how that sense of complete elation gradually wore off with time?

Let me give you an illustration. A few years ago, airlines introduced individualized in-seat entertainment systems in economy-class cabins on intercontinental flights. Each passenger was presented with his own television screen in the seatback in front of him, along with a hand-held remote that allowed him to choose from dozens of movies, television shows, games, or musical selections. This was huge. It gave passengers control of how they would spend their time in the air. It instantaneously lifted the tedium of extended flying. Not surprisingly, the entertainment system caused a wave of excitement among passengers, who fully embraced its capabilities. But this elation did not last indefinitely. After a while, critical chatter then outright complaints started to creep into the cabin about the system, and then these complaints became more and more frequent. Why can’t the system be activated more quickly? Why can’t the movie and musical selections be changed more frequently? Why aren’t the screens brighter and easier to see?

Think about the progression here. In the beginning, passengers welcomed the innovation of an individualized entertainment system with childlike gratitude and giddiness. But as its novelty began to wear off, they started to notice and voice its apparent shortcomings and how it could be made even better. They were no longer satisfied just with having their own systems; they demanded it be perfected further.

[Image from Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life] 

 

All together now: let’s get creative

There is a growing recognition that creativity is a vital component for successfully handling unexpected, unprecedented and rapidly changing surroundings. As an example, the Bloomberg Businessweek article “What Chief Executives Really Want,” in May 2010, noted: “According to a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify ‘creativity’ as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.” This very notion was reinforced recently by Mark Randall, chief strategist over at Adobe. 

Watch the full video via the Wall Street Journal:

Many executives see creativity as the most important factor for future success in employees, according to Adobe chief strategist Mark Randall. ”It rated higher than integrity and global thinking,” he told an audience at The Next Web CxO Summit here.

But do executives really value creativity? And if they do, how can they bring it out?

[Image via opensourceway.]

Overstepping self-imposed limitations

What if you could overstep self-imposed limitations and discover what you are really capable of achieving? Well, this is the very topic of my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine. Your Life. You can get a quick taste via my recent interview with Blue Steps, the career management service of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) representing more than 300 leading executive search firms in more than 75 countries.

BlueSteps: Hi Gabor, thank you for taking the time to share with BlueSteps some ideas from your book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine. Your Life. Referencing a video on the Slingshot website, let's start with a really fun question: What can today's leading executives learn from Lady Gaga?

Gabor George Burt: A great question to kick off with. Lady Gaga personifies the type of innovative thinking that executives should embrace. She rocketed to fame and success not by being the best singer in a traditional sense, nor by inventing a new form of music. Rather, she overstepped industry boundaries to fuse together music, fashion, and art, creating a new type of entertainment that captured the imagination of a broad audience.  This perspective of re-packaging existing components in new combinations is the exciting shortcut to meaningful innovation. It is the common theme among many of the world’s top innovators, from Apple (blending technology with art), Cirque du Soleil (circus with theatre, ballet and opera), to Starbucks (centuries-old café culture with a quick-service model), and NetJets (airplane ownership with airline business travel).

You can continue reading my entire interview with our friends at BlueSteps here.

That elusive, perfectly satisfied customer

There is no such thing as a perfectly and continuously satisfied consumer. Go ahead, test this on yourself. Think of your absolute favorite product that you have purchased or your very favorite service that you have experienced. Now ask yourself: Is your favorite product or favorite service experience absolutely perfect just the way it is, or could it somehow be better? 

Could you not think of any new attributes that would make your favorite things even more perfect for you? Of course you can. There are boundless possibilities for further improvement, that create new layers of comfort, personalization, convenience, style, fun, harmony, security, simplicity, variety, and so forth to what you already have.

You may pose a possible objection here. There is in fact something that you consider perfect just the way it is. But what you are actually feeling is infatuation, not satisfaction. How can infatuation become a powerful tool in your business or your personal life?  Check back next week as I continue to explore this topic, or you can read more about it in my book Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.