Do your touchpoints need to be … cool?

Book: Chasing Cool: Standing Out in Today’s Cluttered Marketplace

Author: Noah Kerner, Gene Pressman, Andrew Essex

Summary: Chasing Cool: Standing Out in Today’s Cluttered Marketplace is a book about authenticity. While the book’s examples are from design and culture-related industries, the message is clear for any organization, be it a bank or an automobile manufacturer: Cool is the ultimate point of difference.

You’ll love this book if: You believe you can learn a business lesson from looking outside the traditional boundaries of your current industry.

You’ll hate this book if: You think the word “cool” is only for kids.

Words of Wisdom:

The only way to build a true communion with an audience – to a point where they might deem you or your work “cool” – is to follow a personal vision and stay true to that vision no matter what. And if your completely off-the-wall idea gets old, come up with another one.

Why we think this book is important: Cool = authentic. Customers cannot be fooled: Ensure that your touchpoints are authentic.

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I was skeptical at first of a book called Chasing Cool co-authored by a guy who used to be a DJ.

But it was the subhead of the book that made me buy it: Standing Out in Today’s Cluttered Marketplace.

I mean, who doesn’t want to stand out in today’s cluttered marketplace, right?

It turns out that Chasing Cool is a book about authenticity. And you won’t find – or become – cool by chasing it.

The authors (Noah Kerner, Gene Pressman, Andrew Essex) describe interviewing innovators from “influential industries”:

Music, architecture, design, film, Internet, consumer brands, art, fashion, advertising, and nightlife … All that time yielded one common thread: none of these people chased anything. They trusted their guts, put their names on the line, and followed their personal passions … They pursued a vision and, then, somewhere down the road, cool found them.

The world’s best …

One of my favorite examples in the book is about a famous ultra-premium vodka.

Grey Goose’s tagline: “The World’s Best Tasting Vodka” is simply … a “positioning statement.” Yet Goose is synonymous with “ultra-premium” vodka.

Is Goose really the world’s best-tasting vodka? Well, according to the now-infamous Times vodka taste test in 2005, Smirnoff was actually the best-tasting: “Pure, clean, and ultra smooth, with pleasing texture and classic vodka aroma.”

The idea behind Goose? Genius. And definitely cool.

Rock stars who … aren’t

As mentioned above, the music industry played a part in this book. (Makes sense; most of us think rock stars are cool.) What was interesting, however, was that apparently (some) record companies use software to help decide what artists to sign.

It becomes less about a gut decision to sign someone who seems genuinely talented than it is about the arc on a spreadsheet.

(Doesn’t sound very cool, does it?)

There’s even a program … which helps record companies determine the chart potential of a song before deciding whether to invest in promoting it. The company claims that they can find mathematical patterns in music and that hit songs are concentrated into a tiny number of trait clusters.

Perhaps that helps explain why the list of  Billboard’s Top 10 grossing tours of 2008 was dominated by classic rock acts.

Cool – is it like Justice Potter Stewart’s “I know it when I see it?”

Bottom line: Your customers will know it when they see it

You can’t fool your customers. And why would you want to try? Strive to ensure all touchpoints are authentic. Your customers will know (and appreciate) you for it.

And that’s pretty cool.

PS – that guy who used to be a DJ? He’s the CEO of noise, based in NYC.

Vanilla latte with all the fat left in it

Something really cool happened on my latest visit to my neighborhood Peet’s Coffee.

I was handed a card that entitles me to receive “any coffee drink” free. Any coffee drink!

I received a similar offer before (from another coffee place) – but it limited me to receiving only a “free small coffee.”

If I wanted a small coffee, I’ll just make it at home. It’s not enough to get my attention. I mean, I recognize they are making some sort of effort – but it’s the cheapest thing on the menu. I never order the cheapest thing on the menu.

Back to my Peet’s visit. You know why they gave me the free coffee drink card? Because they kept me “waiting” while they made my coffee. (A medium vanilla latte with “all the fat left in it, please.” This means replacing the milk with half and half.)

I didn’t even wait a long time. I waited a normal amount of time. It was a pleasant surprise to know I could come back to Peet’s anytime (before 12/31/2009) and get a free coffee drink of my choosing.

Beneath all this warm fuzziness, the marketer in me is pretty sure that everyone who “waited” for their drink that day got one of these cards. But I don’t even care! I’m just looking forward to my next medium vanilla latte with all the fat left in it.