In
Slate this week, Dan and Chip Heath
talk about Clayton Christensen, author of
Innovator's Dilemma and
Innovator's Solution, who came up with a simple way to reframe products--as "hires":
Christensen asks us to imagine a group of marketers at a fast-food
restaurant who want to sell more shakes. As they comb the customer data
for insight, they discover something interesting: Most milkshakes are
sold to early-morning commuters who buy a single milkshake and nothing
else. Why milkshakes?
These commuters, according to Christensen, are “hiring” milkshakes to
do a job for them: to supply a breakfast that is filling and nonmessy
and cupholder-compatible. So to sell more milkshakes, the marketers
don’t need to create a more delicious milkshake. Deliciousness isn’t
really in the job description. Rather, the shakes need to be an ideal
commute co-pilot. (If only having a milkshake in the car would let us
use the HOV lane …)
So the restaurant’s marketers, inspired, create a self-serve
milkshake lane to speed up the morning transaction. They add tiny,
straw-suckable chunks of fruit to the shake, which make it last longer
and add variety to the dreary commute. These tweaks made the milkshake a
more useful “employee,” and sales improve.
