If the Grass is Always Greener, is the Cow Always… Purpler?

It has been ten years since best-selling author and out-of-the-box-thinking guru Seth Godin first introduced marketers and creative minds to the concept of Purple Cow.

In its simplest terms, purple cow is all about doing things differently than everyone else in the marketplace – or ‘field’ as it were.  Not just to be different, but to be impactful.  Godin rationalized that after you have seen one or two or ten cows in the field they all begin to look alike.  But a purple cow, he mused, that would be something that makes people stop and take notice.  The takeaway of purple cow is that marketers and communication and public relations professionals of all types can help transform themselves and their clients by doing things differently from everyone else.  In theory, it seems obvious, right?  In practice, however, it’s not always that easy.  It can be downright scary to buck the trend, or even start your own.

But the risk is worth the reward, and Godin’s purple cow is as relevant today as it was a decade ago.

Bliss professionals from all ranks recently gathered for our annual off-site meeting where, among other matters of business, we talked about the importance and need of those in our profession – and certainly those in our firm – to heed Godin’s charge and see and do things a bit differently.  We challenged each other to think big, to go outside the boundaries of our everyday comfort, and to generally kick a little ass in all that we do. We rededicated ourselves to develop innovative, purple cow strategies that drive both our client’s bottom line profits and their top line perception.  In short, we embraced the Godin philosophy that safe is risky and that very good is bad.  Each of us left the meeting with a determination to think and act more purpler.

We might come up with our own name for it, but as a firm, it is our pledge to inject the concept of purple cow into the fabric of who we are and what we do daily for our clients. We have a renewed sense of what it takes to not only stand out in the field of B2B communication but in the respective fields of the clients we represent.

And we will look to our colleagues and our clients to hold us to this new standard, lest we get lost among the brown and black cows in our field.

Connect with Tim:

Phone: 312.252.7314
Email: tim@blisspr.com
Twitter: @TiminChicago
LinkedIn: Tim Ryan