Until I read Don Norman’s “The Psychology of Everyday Things,” I thought I was the only one frustrated by the everyday challenges of dealing with poorly designed objects, controls, and signage. When I read his book, which he says was inspired by “struggles with British water taps, light switches, and doors,” I started thinking maybe my frustration wasn’t a curse, but an opportunity. In the words of Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, maybe “anger is a gift” (and yes, I’m aware that my annoyance at a doorknob is not the same as Mr. de la Rocha’s anger).
Frustration can inspire innovation. Annoyed with the Blockbuster experience? Invent Netflix. Frustrated by the way you can never tell which switch controls which light? Invent a more intuitive light switch (like the one Don Norman introduces in the book mentioned above). Tired of having a Window pop up while you’re typing mid-sentence, so that half the sentence ends up in each Window? Develop software that recognizes when you’re mid-sentence and prevents this from happening (why hasn’t someone done that yet?).
Frustration can also help identify design flaws. For example, this is a terrible faucet:
I’ve been doing some competitive research lately, and for once it’s not for a client. It’s for my own company (the one that now employs me), which means I’m examining brand consulting firms and other shops that do basically what we do but maybe call it something different. (Which, by the way, is a plague in this industry—an industry that demands its clients communicate clearly, and yet insists on using nebulous terms interchangeably and coming up with proprietary “processes” that are little more than trademarked names for the same thing all their competitors do. But we can talk about that some other time.)
A few months back I read a post by Ed Cotton about Mission Street Food called “What brands can learn from Mission Street Food.” Aside from making me really anxious to go eat there (which I haven’t yet), it made me think of Kogi BBQ (which I have tried), a Korean-Mexican fusion “restaurant” that hawks its tasty tacos out of a truck window in LA and Orange County.
I decided to write a companion post—partly because I really liked Ed’s post and partly to demonstrate (to myself, if no one else) that SoCal has its own foodie-friendly offerings. This post starts with stealing Ed’s format but at times descends into blatant plagiarism. Sorry Ed (sincerest form of flattery and all, right?).
Here’s how it works.
MSF “leases” a Chinese restaurant on Mission Street for two nights of the week and invites guest chefs to come in and create menus and prepare meals.
What Can Brands Learn from MSF?
1. The Power of Surprise
MSF is based on a pretty smart assumption, people like to try new restaurants all the time, which makes it hard for a single concept to gain traction and gain a group of loyal customers. In a world of hyper-instant gratification, people are constantly demanding for and seeking out the new.
How does your brand surprise its audience?
What are you doing to prevent brand fatigue?
2. Partnerships and Collaboration
MSF partners with a Chinese restaurant to host the events, it gets access to its kitchens and staff and it also partners with guest chefs every night. MSF is really a facilitator to the process.
Who is your brand collaborating with to add value?
3. Understanding the Audience
MSF gets who it’s audience is and what they want. They know this is an audience that is easily bored and is looking for culinary surprises. They know they are prepared to trade off ambience for food quality.
Does your brand know its audience?
Do you know what they are looking for from you now?
4. The Concept of Value
MSF gets value right. This is of course not about low prices, but instead the combination of price and quality. The interesting items on the menu are priced perfectly to acknowledge the audiences understanding of value. There’s no sense you are paying for the priviledge of eating there.
Does your brand have its pricing right?
Do you know what people are prepared to pay?
Do you have value add and do you know what it’s worth?
5. Giving Back
MSF gives back profits to local organizations and non-profits giving diners another reason to eat.
What is your brand giving back?
How are your causes tied to your brand?
How open are you about your contributions?
6. A Story
MSF has enough layers to build a great narrative including its original incarnation as a taco truck.
What’s your story?
How do you share it?
How are you building on it?
Here’s how Kogi BBQ works.
As mentioned, Kogi BBQ sells food out of a truck window—actually multiple trucks, all in Southern California. But unlike your average taco truck, Kogi tweets (@kogibbq) to let potential customers know when and where they can find a truck in their area. The result, in the words of an LA Times article, is “a social-networking juggernaut, drawing 300 to 800 people each time it parks (often several times in an evening) and spawning a burgeoning cyber-hippie movement affectionately referred to as “Kogi kulture.”
A few weeks back I answered a question in the Answers section of LinkedIn. The question was “In your opinion, what should newspapers do to keep pace with the internet?” Clearly, this question has been on the minds of many for quite awhile; some respondents simply stated that it’s too late for newspapers (like my favorite cynical response, “What can the horse do to keep up with the automobile?”).
My response was off-the-cuff, but apparently well-received, as it was chosen as the Best Answer (I got a gold star!). Here it is:
You may have already seen this clip of Pattie Maes unveiling the “sixth sense” wearable technology at TED. If not, I recommend checking it out.
This clip, along with a great post by Steve Rubel about Open Web, has me thinking about what the future holds for technology, and how different organizations might be able to capitalize on it. Seems to me that Pattie’s talk and Steve’s post more or less point to the same trends:
You can always count on the checkers at Cold Storage to 3x bag any raw meat and generally use as many plastic bags as possible. #Singapore Saturday 04 February
"P&G perfected the modern art of branding with Crisco" NPR: Who Killed Lard?-More at http://t.co/uY4c7sBP Saturday 04 February
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