Andy Nulman’s putting the finishing touches on his new book Pow: The Element of Surprise. It outlines the business value of unconventional marketing techniques. It’s being launched using them. See this example. Had the pleasure of hearing Andy speak a couple of weeks ago. My summary of some of his key points follows.
Andy contends that surprise is the:
- basis of entertainment
- key to fashion
- root of sports
- difference in politics
- spirit of Web 2.0
- lubricant to ‘yes’
- euphoric shock of a major upset (not just the pat on the back of a great game)
As a result, marketing surprises can have large sales implications, as in this example.
In Andy’s view, the challenge is to create situations in which surprises are sustained by the constant discovery of new extremes; surprises constantly revealing things which seem so radical today and so obvious tommorrow. Surprise is the magic show in which participants don’t know what to expect next. It involves improvisation. Hear, hear!
Andy’s perspective resonates with me. The dot connection? It underscores the value of surprising user experiences and the impact such experiences can have in driving extraordinay day-to-day user adoption rates.
