Field Notes
On the Frontier
This is a living laboratory. It features experiments in human-AI collaboration, creativity, and business management.
MBA Boot Camp: Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean Strategy (8.4)
Why fight your competitors when you can make them irrelevant?
The classic MBA example of a Blue Ocean is Cirque du Soleil. In the 1980s, the circus industry was a dying "Red Ocean." Ringling Bros was fighting over a shrinking audience of children, dealing with high costs for animal care, and facing backlash from animal rights groups.
Cirque du Soleil didn't try to make a "better" traditional circus. They eliminated the animals entirely (cutting massive costs) and blended circus acrobatics with Broadway theater. They created a completely new market: upscale, artistic entertainment for adults who were willing to pay premium ticket prices. They created a Blue Ocean.
Notes on Customer Desire, Story Gaps, and Conflict
The only reason our customers buy from us is because their external problem is frustrating them in some way. If we can identify that frustration, put it into words, and offer to resolve it along with the original external problem, we do more than just sell our customers products; we bond with our customers because we’ve positioned ourselves deeply into their narrative.
Notes on Customer-Centered Messaging and Clarity
The essence of branding is to create simple, relevant messages we can repeat over and over so that we ‘brand’ ourselves into the public consciousness.
What I’m Learning from Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand 2.0
Most businesses tell confusing stories and that’s not what customers want. They want clarity. Your story needs to be very clear. The human brain is wired to survive and if you want to make customers pay attention, then you need to tap into that impulse. Eliminate the noise. Highlight what you offer that will help them “survive and thrive.”