More people want the red and blue sneakers than they want the black and white sneakers. Sure, there is quality, price, and convenience. However, there is a big need for the cool products.
The books that look cool are the ones that get more sales. The sneakers that look cool get more sales than the sneakers that do not look cool. Cool sneakers give you the ability to show them off to your friends. A cool book with a great story gives you the need to buy the cover. When I bought Free Prize Inside, I bought the one with the purple cow on it because I thought that cover looked cooler than the other one. It ends up that Seth Godin added some extra content in the one with the purple cow, but as I made the purchase, I did not know about the extra content.
People are willing to pay the extra $50 for a cooler pair of sneakers. The black and white sneakers may cost $50, but those must-have, must-get, ultra-cool red and blue sneakers that go for $100 are the ones many people end up buying (or want to buy). Buying uncool products risks getting caught. Your friend with the red and blue sneakers will come up to you and ask why you are still wearing black and white sneakers.
The best part about creating a cool product is that word of mouth will be easy to generate. People with the cool product show it off to their friends and say that they have it. They also persuade their friends to buy the product. The Fax machine is worthless if no other business friends of colleagues has one. The Fax machine was a cool product that relied on other Fax machines, and as a result, people showed them off to their friends.
It is important to maintain what you say your business is going to be about. However, it is also important to make your products look cool. Everything cool gets noticed in a positive way: the cool clothing, the cool sneakers, the cool book cover, and other cool things. The uncool things get noticed in a negative way: the uncool clothing, the uncool sneakers, the uncool book cover, and other uncool things.
Cool products are the ones that spread. Uncool products are the ones that we make fun of when we see them.
You make it sound so easy to know what is cool! Cool means popular, I’m guessing. Well, business people would give anything to know for sure what will be popular! It’s unpredictable! And it changes all the time. Maybe next month the black and white sneakers will be considered cool.
Cool products are the remarkable ones that you would want to tell your friends about. If the restroom in your local restaurant had purple seats instead of white seats, that would be cool. Siri used to be cool when it was the only one of its kind. Now Siri is ordinary and has lost its coolness. As more people tell their friends about something cool, word of mouth spreads the product further. In addition, cool products are scarce. There are too many black and white sneakers, and there are also too many Audis, Toyotas, and Fords on the road. If a Lamborghini suddenly came roaring by, that car would get your attention more than any Audi, Toyota, or Ford car on the highway.