I remember the launch day clearly. Our team had spent months developing a new service offering. It was meticulously researched, well designed, and objectively better than most of the existing options in the market. We followed the traditional playbook: we built a solid product, created a polished marketing campaign, bought some ads, and waited for the customers to roll in.
And they trickled. The response was not bad; it was just lukewarm. Our service was good, maybe even very good. But it was not remarkable. In a crowded field of brown cows, we had produced another perfectly adequate brown cow. It blended in completely. The original blog review I wrote after reading Seth Godin’s Purple Cow highlighted a key quote: “If your product isn’t remarkable, it’s invisible”. That perfectly described our situation. Our marketing efforts felt like shouting into a void. We were spending money to get attention, but nobody was talking about us. Our product was great, but it was invisible.
Reading Godin’s book was a wake up call. It explained why our traditional approach was failing. His central premise is that the old model of creating safe, average products and then using mass advertising to generate demand is dead. In a world saturated with choices and starved for attention, the only things that break through are things that are truly remarkable, things worth talking about, things that are Purple Cows.
The Old Way is Broken: Why “Safe” Products + Big Ads = Failure
Table of Contents
Godin’s diagnosis, which resonated with my own experience, is brutal but accurate. We live in an era of choices galore. As the original review noted, humans get bored easily, and technology provides infinite options. Getting attention requires something truly different, quirky, or creative just to make someone probe further.
For decades, businesses relied on interrupting people with ads after creating an average product. This worked when choice was limited. That era is over. Consumers are overwhelmed and ignore marketing messages. Simply being “very good” is no longer good enough, because “very good” is boring. And boring is invisible. Spending more money advertising a boring product is futile.
Behold the Purple Cow: What ReallyMakes Something Remarkable?
A Purple Cow, according to Godin, is something fundamentally different, surprising, and worth noticing. It is built into the product or service. It is not just about marketing spin; it is about the offering itself being inherently interesting. As the original review touched upon, presentation matters. Think about the unboxing experience of an Apple product, or how Tesla revolutionized electric cars.
Tesla did not just make an electric car; they made one that was fast, feature loaded, and looked stunning, completely changing the game from the slow, boring electric cars that came before. That inherent remarkability, combined with smart digital marketing and leveraging early adopters and influencers, created immense buzz. The product was the marketing. Remarkable means creating something people choose to talk about.
A Playbook for Creating Your Own Purple Cow
So how do you move from creating boring brown cows to remarkable purple ones? Godin’s philosophy offers several key principles:
Principle 1: Design the Remarkable In, Don’t Bolt it On Later
Remarkability cannot be an afterthought. It must be part of the product’s DNA. Ask “How can we design a product that markets itself?” This requires making bold choices during design. Even the way Godin launched Purple Cow was remarkable; the first copies arrived in milk cartons! What unique feature, service level, or business model can you build in?
Principle 2: Forget the Masses, Delight the “Sneezers” (Focus on Niche Customers & Otaku)
The old model aimed for the average customer. Godin argues you should target the passionate niche, the early adopters, the “sneezers” who will spread the idea. The original review highlighted the Japanese concept of Otaku: “something more than a hobby, but a little less than an obsession.” These are the superfans, the foodies exploring a city for authentic food, the bikers riding in extreme conditions, the Apple fans camping overnight. Smart businesses target these groups. Create something that this small, influential group will absolutely love. Their Otaku, their passion, will drive word of mouth.
Principle 3: Understand That “Safe is Risky” (Dare to Be Different)
In a crowded market, the riskiest thing you can do is create something boring and safe. Following the rules and trying not to offend anyone leads to invisibility. Making a Purple Cow often involves risk, potentially alienating some customers. But the risk of being ignored is far greater. Embrace the idea to fail fast. As the original review noted, failure is never final. Introspect, find alternatives, try new methods.
Also read: Why Failure Paves the Way for Success
Principle 4: Explore the Edges (Find Your Niche)
Purple Cows rarely emerge from the center. They come from underserved niches, unconventional approaches, or challenging industry assumptions. Where are the customers whose needs are ignored by mainstream players? What rules does your industry follow blindly? Explore the fringes. That is often where Otaku lives and where remarkability can be found.
Principle 5: Measure What Matters (It Is Not Just About Sales)
How do you know if you have a Purple Cow? It is not just initial sales. Are people talking about it? Is it generating buzz? Are fans creating their own commercials, like the fan made Tesla ad mentioned in the review? Remarkability creates its own momentum. Track the conversation, the shares, the unsolicited recommendations.
Is Your Cow Purple? A Checklist for Your Offering
- If your product disappeared tomorrow, would a specific group of passionate users truly miss it?
- What one remarkable word would your most enthusiastic customers use to describe your product to a friend?
- Are you designing for the passionate niche (the Otaku) or trying to please everyone?
- What assumption about your industry does your offering deliberately challenge?
- Are your biggest fans actively spreading the word for you?
The Only Path Forward
Reading Purple Cow was a necessary jolt. It forced me to confront the comfortable mediocrity of creating “very good” but ultimately invisible offerings. It challenged me, and challenges all of us, to aim for something far more difficult but infinitely more rewarding: being remarkable.
In a world drowning in choices, boring is not a viable strategy. Safe is risky. The only path to sustainable growth and impact is to create something worth talking about, something infused with the passion of Otaku. It requires courage, creativity, and a willingness to stand out. It requires building a Purple Cow. What is remarkable about what you are doing?
If you are ready to challenge the status quo and build something truly remarkable, explore how FocusU helps organizations foster innovation and differentiation at FocusU.
