LaserMonks: The Next Amazon.com?

There was a great article today in the LA Times about 5 monks in Wisconsin that started an online store called LaserMonks to sell printer ink cartridges to help support their cause. This is not a completely unique happening... a few years back there was a best-selling CD called Chant by a group of Benedictine monks and I remember reading a story about a convent of nuns in California who were having success making olive oil, not to mention the fact that Belgian Trappist monks have been making some of the best beer in the world for about 700 years.

However, the thing that struck me was how big a business these monks had built. Starting in 2002 with $2,000 of revenue, they hit $4 million last year and are estimating $7 million this year. Whoa! That's not bad for 5 guys with day jobs (albeit, they probably have a bit more available time than your average working Joe).

What you're seeing here is the same type of shift I spoke of yesterday. In the 20th century, manufacturers and retailers were innovating and driving consumer demand, but in the 21st century it's consumers who are reinventing themselves and driving business. With a "long tail" of products and suppliers now available in the digital world, consumers are free to express themselves in more and more ways. For those who care about what happens to the profits from their purchases (a growing segment of the population), the monks' marketing message resonates...

COMMERCE WITH COMPASSION: Given the same product at comparable pricing, wouldn't you rather purchase from the company whose proceeds support our communities?

This shift in consumer behavior is creating many opportunities for businesses. Companies like Zlio, that provide the capability for anyone to set up an online store in a matter of minutes, will help to create a long tail of stores that will allow any individual or group to quickly become a retailer and leverage their own particularly unique positioning, whether that's being an abbey of monks or an expert on hot sauce. That's pretty exciting stuff.

Obviously, there's still a place for the large retailers (and a big place for retailers like Nordstrom who understand how to build customer loyalty and value through great experiences), but these types of niche businesses with unique positioning will take some of their revenue... they are meeting a demand of the 21st century consumer.

P.S. I just love the top nav on LaserMonks...

... on what other eCommerce website do you see an option for "Prayer Requests"!

The Unreal is More Powerful than the Real

A few marketing blogs that I read (The Rouge Marketer and The Marketing Maven) have written a thing or two about experiential marketing lately. The Rouge highlights an excerpt of a new book by Joseph Pine & James Gilmore, the leading authors in this space. Their classic book, The Experience Economy, is a must read for any marketer. The Maven wrote about Abercrombie & Fitch having live models in their flagship store creating a unique shopping experience.

Another great read about this subject is Building Great Customer Experiences by Colin Shaw. Colin, who spent 20 years managing customer relationships for BT and now runs Beyond Philosophy marketing consultancy in London, talks about managing and measuring the experience and the resulting emotions created by the experience.

“In the late 20th century, businesses reinvented themselves; in the 21st century it is customers who will reinvent themselves. And the companies who can help them do it will be taking the bows in the new transformational economy.”

Understanding that the experiences customers have with your product or service is just as important, if not more important, than the physical features of your product is key to successful marketing in the 21st century. Your product or service always run the risk of becoming a commodity, but the experience a customer has with your brand is something that will remain a differentiating factor. This is how you build customer loyalty, brand power, and long-term value.

My favorite quote on this comes from a very strange source... Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club. Palahniuk has a screw loose, but he definitely understands pop culture and customer experience.

“People had been working for so many years to make the world a safe, organized place. Nobody realized how boring it would become… The laws that keep us safe, these same laws condemn us to boredom. Without access to true chaos, we’ll never have true peace. Unless everything can get worse, it won’t get any better…

The only frontier you have left is the world of intangibles… the Internet, movies, music, stories, art, rumours, computer programs, anything that isn’t real. Virtual realities. Make-believe stuff. The culture.

The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it’s only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.

If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. If you do that, you can change the way people live their lives. And that’s the only thing lasting you can create.”

X Marks the Spot

While I was attending the last few LA Galaxy games and looking at the giant half-pipe they'd built in the Home Depot Center parking lot, I knew I was going to write something about the X Games. I thought it might be something about how this event, now in its 13th year, had established and legitimized a whole new set of fringe sports (leading to inclusion in the Olympics). Or, maybe it would be about how this event had provided a more traditional marketing opportunity to reach the teen and post-teen demographic groups that are so difficult to reach through traditional methods. However, after the first 2 days of competition, there is only one image I have of the X Games and I can't get it out of my mind... Jake Brown's shoes "exploding" off his feet after his spectacular wipe out on Thursday night.

First of all, if you haven't seen the video, you have to watch it (and if you're like me and have seen it a dozen times, you'll probably watch it a few more times)...

Wow! I'm not sure what's so appealing about seeing that guy free fall 50 feet, but I can't stop watching. I think it has something to do with why we watch daredevils like Evil Knievel, NASCAR crashes and NHL fights. It's the extreme end of the sporting world, where guys who are talented enough, brave enough, or stupid enough, risk personal injury and push the edge of the envelope (while we watch from the safety of an armchair).

But what does any of this have to do with business? How do we interpret this? Beth Shuster, an LA Times staff writer, wrote about it from the perspective of a mother, and her lesson was "be careful, be really careful." I think the same lesson can be said for business. Jake Brown was trying a trick that was never done before in competition, but he was completely out of control. If you watched the BMX Bike Big Air competition on Friday, you saw several competitors back out before the final leap if they were losing control, or Mat Hoffman, a legend in the sport, decide to take his licks and limit his losses by falling on top of the quarter pipe (making it a 20-foot fall onto padding rather than duplicate Brown's 50-foot fall to the bottom of the ramp).

You need to take risks and you need to innovate in the business world, but you must know your limitations and measure and manage the consequences. Risking it all may make for compelling viewing, but it's just plain stupid as a management philosophy.

It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.

Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's commissioner, has been under some pressure lately regarding whether he'd try to attend Barry Bonds' record tying and breaking home run games. It's no secret that Bud doesn't like Barry for all the steroid hullabaloo. However, Bud made a move last week for the good of the game he's responsible for leading & selling... he said he was going to start attending Barry's games in the hope of seeing him break the record. That was the right thing to do. It was a good PR move and in line with his responsibilities as MLB's chief executive.

Unfortunately, Barry's struggling in another slump, and now, after 8 days of following Barry, Bud's had enough. He described his arduous journey (spending a week in SF and 2 days in LA) as a "Herculean effort". Watching 8 baseball games was Herculean??? This coming from the guy responsible for leading baseball??? You want your employees to be open and honest, so you don't want him to lie, but wouldn't you expect that the MLB commish should be singing a different tune? He should be saying "I'm happy this has given me the opportunity to get out of the office and to the ballpark" and he shouldn't need a PR person to tell him that.

Bud has let his personal opinions get in the way of doing his job, and that's something that no professional can ever let happen.