You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.

Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.

Customer Rating:
Summary: One-trick Pony
Comment: I love Godin's creative approach to marketing, but does anyone else feel that he's milking us? "The Purple Cow" is a perfect example. It's a great idea that would have made a great article in FastCompany, but when stretched into a book, it becomes tiresome and loses its original magic.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A good recommendation
Comment: This book has been recommended to me by several others and I finally had time to pick it up and read it cover to cover. Seth Godin is the guru on marketing and how to set yourself apart from the competition. I was impressed at how quickly I finished this book, both his style of writing is easy to follow and is direct and to the point. His lessons are very simple but often overlooked and under considered. You just have to be remarkable in what you do.

I plan to read additional books from Seth and apply the lessons that I learned from his book to my business.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Book by a Great Writer
Comment: Purple Cow is a great book by a great writer. This book has made me rethink the way I look at my business

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Book, but enough with the "sneezers"
Comment: I just finished reading two books by the prolific marketeer Seth Godin: Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside. I had heard a number of people discussing Godin's latest book and thought I would see what I was missing.

Purple Cow is a battle cry to make remarkable products. It is a passionate plea that a product that tries to be all things to all people will be nothing to everyone. Godin makes a case that a product should leave the happy middle ground. Make the cheapest product, or the most expensive, the most elegant or the simplest. The early adopters are the people that you need to win first and they are not drawn to the average product. A remarkable product, literally one that would make someone remark and take notice, will produce "sneezers" who will distribute your "idea virus".

Free Prize Inside! argues that a series of small incremental changes to your product to add value is better than either a huge marketing or a huge research budget. When Amazon took their large marketing budget and instead spent it on free shipping they created value, a "free prize", for their customers. Give your customers a free prize, give them value, and they will talk about it.

I enjoyed both books even if I did not always relate to the world he was writing about. Having worked in Silicon Valley startup companies for so long I did not relate to some of the information in Free Prize Inside! about how to sell your ideas to a management chain that would clearly be resistant. I did not disagree that this happens, I just did not relate on a personal level. Also I find Godin's terminology like "sneezers" to be something that I am likely to remember but embarrassed to repeat.

My favorite part of both books are the concrete examples that I look for in a book in this genre. I am left with questions like "how would I do something similar for my company, my blog or my podcast?" "What free prize could I provide my customers, my readers or my listeners?" So I am left with questions, but those are exactly the kind of questions I am looking for.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Short, Sweet, and Accessible
Comment: At the heart of this book is the notion of "Moore's idea diffusion curve". It's just a bell-curve that shows innovators (sneezers), early adopters, early/late majority, and laggards. The central theme of the book is that you need to target the front of that curve by appealing your "remarkable" product to them as a niche, and treat them very specially.

Contrary to the most popular review here (quite negative) calling this book an unnecessarily expanded essay, I would argue that Godin covers a lot of ground in a concise 137 pages. And you don't need an MBA to understand the principles. This book is required reading for anyone looking to start a business.

The most resonating take-away is that marketing has worked its way to the front phases of product development. If the product can't *be* the marketing, then it will fail. This means that developers/engineers need to understand a bit about marketing, and need to be able to include and work with marketers from conception.

In the few hours it took to read through "Purple Cow", I've been able to take away quite a few valuable insights:

- The days of the "Hurricane Effect" (traditional massive blitz marketing, e.g., TV commercials, banner ads) are over

- Understand the importance of the idea curve (a simple concept) and its ripple effect.

- Employ market-centric design (marketers need to be a part of early design phase).

- At the front of the curve are sneezers -- a very loud group of users who will do your marketing for you.

- Treat the sneezers individually and personally, as your most valuable asset. Overwhelm that small target, and please them in every way possible.

- You can only attract sneezers by being remarkable (a purple cow, stand out, break the rules, do the unsafe thing, etc).

- The marketing *is* the product (the Leaning Tower of Pisa markets itself just in its name), and a good slogan is essential.

- If your product is not innovative, start over.

- Find an edge of the market, go to it and beyond.

- Resist the temptation to "milk the cow" (be ever seeking the next purple cow).

If you must pay $[...] for this book, it is well worth it. But given its popularity, you'll likely find many copies at your local library. In reading this you'll probably become a Godin fan. His blog ([...]/) continues to discuss material similar to that found in this book.

---