Rockstar product extra spice
on March 26, 2009
What makes a product successful? There are many good reasons: quality, price, features, functionality, stylishness and so on. Sometimes a product is successful for no good obvious reason. How about the Tamagotchi? The simplest, stupid and even annoying little plastic egg and just irresistible. Here’s a nice sheet which shows how simple but still cute the whole thing was. (I found it in a nice article about the Tamagotchi for those who want to explore it more).
Obviously they did something right and sometimes it´s just that little hint of catchy cuteness that turns a normal product into a Rockstar product. I don’t think there’s a formula of what to do and how to create that extra value that sky rockets the thing, but some personality, cuteness and humour definitely helps. At first sight Apple may not have these features. But how about the light on the Macbook that pulsates like a living thing or the logo which is clean and stylish but at the end of the day an apple with a bitemark, that’s shows some personality, doesn’t it?
So why don’t we just try it every now and then, it might not work but we can’t ruin that much. I still love Bizzards “Don’t pet a burning dog” advice while playing Diablo. Skype for example is an ok product, it’s useful but not particularly with a cult approach. What if they added a “personalizeable Startrek incoming call screen”. I’d be great for companys, as to be used a branding and CI, as well as the average teenager. I’d love it for sure. So c’mon Skype show us some Social Media Skills – read it here and do it. I’ll licence the idea under CC attribution. ;)
