Is your festival a Purple Cow?

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit how long it took for Seth Godin's Purple Cow to surface at the top of my reading stack. While one will not find a single festival reference, I cannot think of a better book for festival planners to be reading, especially in today's turbulent world.

In a nutshell, the book encourages us to be REMARKABLE in what we do and contends that being remarkable is the only true competitive advantage left for products of any kind.

This started me thinking. Are there many remarkable festivals? In my workshops, I often speak about the homogeneity of the festival product. We all have good food, beverages, entertainment, children's activities....etc, etc, etc. But do we have anything that jumps up and literally grabs the customer's attention? As a whole...I think not so much.

There is no formula for developing remarkable. And if being remarkable was easy, everyone would be doing it and it would no longer be remarkable. However, Godin's book helps us challenge the way we think and provides us with questions, examples and ideas to begin the quest for a Purple Cow.

Again and again he emphasizes the fact that remarkable is rarely a marketing issue. It is usually a product development issue, which could not be truer for the festival industry. What are we doing in programming, access, logistics, customer service, training, or volunteer management to created a remarkable (read: unforgettable) experience?

Are you completely willing to re-engineer your event? Too risky? Godin's contention is that risk-taking is the only safe move in today's landscape. Staying the same (as yourself and your competitors) is the path to being obsolete. Risk is the path to success.

He tells the story of Dutch Boy paint. Paint is boring and paint is an even more homogeneous product. Dutch Boy realized that paint was not their product. Rather, the painting experience (ugh!) was the product. By developing revolutionary new packaging, an easy to pour plastic jug with a handle to replace unwieldy paint cans, they made painting easier, cleaner and more fun. Listening to the customer, completely rethinking the product and unleashing this clever Purple Cow helped them steal significant market share.

Is your festival the next Purple Cow? I sure hope so!

Penny C. Reeh - Owner, Indigo Resource Group & TFEA Executive Director