Shot at 1969-12-31

With the recent talk about the supposed decline of Objectivism, and the laughter at the idea of Objectivism actually WINNING the battle, I'd like to offer some ideas from Seth Godin's series of marketing books based on the Purple Cow. Continuing with my theme of too much to say and no time to say it, this isn't a formal piece, just some ideas for discussion.

Seth Godin: PURPLE COW: TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS BY BEING REMARKABLE

People have been throwing around numbers and fighting over statistics, arguing that the success of Objectivism can or cannot be judged by how many books are bought and sold, or how many numbers fill the seats in NBI versus pick your organization. But this reasoning is based on an older model of mass marketing, when we are in a different age where the rules have changed. Some argue that in order to change the culture, without resorting to violent revolutions or force, that we need to educate the masses and change the overall philosophy. But maybe there's no time for that. And there are people who will simply resist change, no matter what. And advertising no longer works. People have begun to tune it out. It's now back to where we started, word of mouth. But with the internet and viral marketing, it's no longer at a snail's pace. It's global.

In PURPLE COW, Seth Godin argues that the mass marketing is no longer viable for upstart startups. Most products existing have had the advantage of being first, and the competitors have already moved in. We have the answer for most of our material needs already, with multiple choices to boot. Coke, Pepsi, RC, Shasta...we risk oversaturation and too many choices as it is. And once people have adapted to a favorite, it's even harder to pry them away to something new. (Sometimes, even if it's failing, loyalty or stubborness or comfort will prevail.)

So how does someone compete today? Not by going for the masses, but for the individuals. By being the Purple Cow.
By developing a niche market. Mass marketing is the result of committe think, group speak, and standardization by the criteria of the common denominator.

The path of acceptance of innovation: Innovations pitched to early adopters, spread to the early and late majority (the masses), and finally the laggards.

NEVER is the jump made directly to the masses...except in the case of socialism, fascism, i.e., only when the pitch is to destroy anything elite or nonsocial.

The purple cow product is a product that is inherently REMARKABLE. The regular product is average, with advertising and promotion wrapped around it to appear remarkable. Purple cows are not nice for the sake of being non-offensive. They don't care if you don't like them. They are concerned with being themselves.

John Galt as the purveyor of the Purple Cow. He did not go to the masses, he went to the early adopters, the ones ready for the advantages of a better idea. Otherwise known as the SNEEZERS, the people who enable the spread of new ideas. In the case of ATLAS SHRUGGED, we had a reverse sneezer: the ones who DIDN'T spread the new ideas, but withdrew their breath of life from the "masses."

The innovators "cheat." They disregard the rules of mass marketing and the powers that be. They create individualized products that are not aimed at pleasing everyone. They succeed by being better, different, extraordinary, KASS. Remarkable.

Objectivism is a Purple cow. It is not Mass Marketable, because it is remarkable. It does not offer safety in numbers, or boring riskless utopias. To judge its success by its mass acceptance is to ignore its purpose, a philosophy for living on earth, not to win popular opinion. To be mass marketable is to be "invisible, anonymous uncriticized, and safe," unlike the "greatness, uniqueness" of the Purple Cow."