Cheat to win
| Chapter : Cheating
| Book : Purple Cow
| Author : Seth Godin
CHEATING
Jetblue Airways is cheating. Their low-cost structure, underused airports, and young, non-union staff give them an unfair advantage.
Starbucks is cheating. The coffee bar phenomenon was invented by them, and now whenever we think of coffee, we think Starbucks.
Vanguard is cheating. Their low-cost index funds make it impossible for a full-serice broker to compete.
Amazon.com is cheating. Their free shipping and huge selection give them an unfair advantage over the neighborhood store.
Google is cheating. They learned the mistakes of the first-generation portals and they don’t carry the baggage of their peers.
Wendy’s is chating. Their flexibility allows them to introduce half a dozen salad based entrees, capturing a big chunk of the adult market.
Ducati is cheating. Because they don’t have to make motorcycles for the entire market, they can specialize in high-profit, amazing bikes, which sell out every year.
HBO is cheating. Because they have to program original shows only one night a week, HBO can focus and invest and cream the networks.
None of these companies are using the old-fashioned-advertising-based techniques to win. To their entrenched(but nervous) competitors, these companies appear to be cheating because they’re not playing by the rules.
Why aren’t you cheating?
—-
