Thinking by Peter Davidson

The PaintBuddy from Rubbermaid is a small canister that can be filled with paint. When touch up painting is needed a value can be opened and paint applied to a small roller and thus to the desired surface. It appears quick and easy. It's also smart marketing.

Much like the Dutch Boy painting products I blogged before, the Rubbermaid PaintBuddy is smart marketing. Like many of Rubbermaid products the PaintBuddy uses design to deliver great marketable functionality.

Rubbermaid isn't marketing a new way to paint. The PaintBuddy represents a neat and well painted home. That has a far greater appeal than just a new painting gadget. This makes touch up painting as easy as cleaning.

P.S. Mom, don't show this to Dad because, ahhh, Father's day and all.

[PaintBuddy by Rubbermaid]

tags: paintbuddy | rubbermaid | smart marketing | Father's day gift
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Marc Hedlund at Signal vs. Noise has yet another take on the idea of adding features to products that help customers form strong emotional connections/attachments with them.

Marc discusses the "bud vase" feature that is the "free prize" inside the new VW Beetle. Whether it's a free prize, a lovemark or a "bud vase feature" the principle is the same. It's all about emotional connection between products and customers.

I point this out because the more perspectives and articulations of the idea the more ways there are to understand and communicate this idea within a organization.

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tags: free prize | lovemark | VW | beetle| bud vase
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Seth points to the future in one paragraph of his post called Thinking About Digital Media

Can you make any money giving away an ebook? I think you can. I think you do when the idea spreads and people want to interact with you in other ways. And those interactions are the currency of the future.

Attention music labels are you listening. I have believed for a long time that music is and wants to be free. It's the experiences and information you build around the music that is where the future revenue lives. Just like movies on DVD and the added goodies, deleted scenes, alternate endings, etc.

Free content that engages a participant simply whets their appetite and primes them for additional interactions with the content creator. It's why Godin gives his dusty content away. The spread of ideas connected to Godin increases his new book sales and ups his speaking fees as demand increases to hear directly from him.

Dutch Boy Paint is continuing to offer aFree Prize with the purchase of their paint. Dutch Boy realizes they sell finished colored surfaces not just paint. They wisely use innovative design, packaging and marketing to make it easier and faster to obtain the finished product.

First, it was the successful Twist and Pour container that significantly reduces the hassles around the painting process. The idea is simple: Reduce the hassle, stress, effort and time required to complete painting projects and people will want to paint more and more often.

Now comes the Ready to Roll project sized paint container. Because the resealable container features a built-in roller tray set up and more significantly clean up are easy and streamlined.

Some feel that these innovations are unnecessary and that women(the targeted market) are perfectly capable of pouring paint from a can into a roller tray. They miss the point. Dutch Boy isn't saying you can't paint the old way with metal cans, roller trays, spills and lots of clean-up, they are saying there is a smarter faster way to achieve the results you want. Brilliant!

via

This Wally Power 118 was making the rounds last week. In my opinion this is THE most incredible yacht in the world. The level of design sophistication is unparalleled to my knowledge. While it is a thing few can own I hope it is something many will emulate. Yacht design needs a concept yacht like this. I hope the fantastic people at Wally will see the value of putting this craft in the movies and exposing this unique design to the world. Perhaps James Bond will pull up to the dock in his Cadillac 16 ready to escort his glamourous companion abroad this 21st Century yacht.

Anyone looking for a good example of Seth Godin's Edgecraft simply needs to compare this design with the typical luxury yacht design. Design decisions were made that took this vessel to the very edge. Just how minimalist can we go? Can we conceal all the usual equipment and hardware that clutters the deck of a typical yacht? Can this vessel cruise at 65 knots? Can we use gas turbine engines? These decisions created a totally unique vessel that has the power to reshape luxury yacht design. You can't inspire radical change unless you push to the very edge.

Spend a few minutes viewing the pictures here. Then wipe the drool off your screen and head back to work all inspired and everything.

Duke University is making a huge move towards integrating desired technology into the education process. In probably what is a "can't beat them, join them" kind of move they have announced a program to equip 1,650 incoming freshman with Apple iPods. Stated to be free to students it's hard to imagine that the cost isn't buried somewhere in the $39,240 a year for tuition, fees, room and board.

The university plans to pre-load the popular devices with orientation information, calendars etc. Academic use will include audio recording of lectures, audiobooks and other yet to be determined uses i.e. cheating.

From a marketing perspective this is genius on the part of Apple by getting their devices out there. It's also a smart move on the part of Duke. The devices become the Free Prize for choosing Duke. They are smart to select a product that is so popular with it's audience. Had they picked IPaqs I don't think it would have been as successful from a marketing standpoint. It also gives the University a test bed to study the role of widespread technology use in the academic environment.

Imagine if Apple had included the much desired WiFi connectivity into the iPod. The academic uses would be huge.

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If you are catching up on the Business Blog Book Tour for Free Prize Inside: The Next Big Marketing Idea by Seth Godin here are links to the posts here at Thinking:

Free Prize Inside Day

Seth Godin: Execution is Priceless

Seth Godin: Following Instructions

Stay With Us

Start Small, Be Remarkable

Seth on Good Business Books

There's still time to be one of the cool kids and be the first in your organization to read the book. Click on the book cover at left to purchase a copy for yourself.

One more point of interest about Seth Godin. Today's NYT has an article that quotes Seth on what makes a good business book. From the article:

The first category is manuals, "books with the word 'dummies' in the titles," he said. The second are the ones that can "open horizons for people, books that announce 'I'm going to say something to you that when you hear it, you realize it makes perfect sense. You don't have to trust who I am or what I've done. You will feel the confidence to do that thing,' '' he said.

The book that gave him that confidence is "The Republic of Tea," by Mel and Patricia Ziegler (Currency, 1994), about the creation of the tea business they started with Bill Rosenzweig. Mr. Godin read the book in one sitting, saying it taught him what all good business books teach: the importance of "guts."

Now we know a little something about why Seth's books are such calls to personal action.

[link] (registration)

Ever have a job where you fulfilled the wishes of your boss and created soft innovation after soft innovation and constantly took risks to create remarkable Purple Cows only to have a management change and suddenly be viewed as a troublemaker who just wants to shake up the status quo? I've been there and I think many others have been as well.

Situations like that make it very clear that we all need to visit or revisit the ideas that Seth presents. The process for earning trust and taking responsibility are truly valuable.

Thinking:In today's employment climate of outsourcing, offshoring, layoffs and increasing workloads how do employees earn enough trust and confidence from their boss to create soft innovations, free prizes and purple cows?

Seth Godin:They don’t! If you need your boss to say, “yes, do it, I take responsibility and will cover for you” it just ain’t going to happen. You need to gain enough trust and confidence that you can do small things, things under the radar, things you can take responsibility for. THEN, over time, build to bigger things, all the time taking, not giving, responsibility.

I'll invite you again to click on the book cover at left and purchase a copy of the book for yourself. You know all the cool kids are going to read it. Do you want to wait until your boss reads it and recommends it or do you want to be the first to read it and be the one who brings these ideas into your organization? Which approach would make you remarkable?

Be sure and check back with me here before the end of the day for another insight from Seth Godin regarding his latest book.

If you haven't already done so, click on the book cover at left and order your own copy of Free Prize Inside from Amazon.

The whole point of the BBBT is to spread the word or ideavirus by informing business and marketing people about the book. Other than an advance copy of the book I've not been compensated for featuring the book here. I recommend it because I like it and think it will be of value to those who read it. It has a lot for everyone whether you're in marketing or not.

Order it. Read it. Apply it. Hang on.

While you're here check out some of my Thinking about Airlines
What Should Southwest Airlines Do Now to be remarkable and become a Purple Cow.
What United Airlines Should Do to move to the Edge and become more Remarkable.