Escaping the Sea of Sameness

The world is full of me-too players. Half the cars on the market are nearly identical. Detergents, sodas, and potato chips are pretty much all the same no matter what the ads say. When was the last time you went to a restaurant that was so different that you really noticed?

Competitive advantages of the past have become commodities. Having good customer service or high quality products no longer make you special; these are merely the ante to play. You have reliable shipping? So does everyone. You offer a great warranty…. Who doesn’t? A website with helpful information? Me too.

In the ad agency world, one that is ostensibly known for creativity, the agencies all sound the same. Visit the website of ten agencies and they will be largely indistinguishable. Your choices for just about every site include: about the agency, clients, case studies, blog, contact us. For a company that is supposed to help you stand out, they pretty much all blend into the pack.

Boone Oakley (Charlotte, NC), on the other hand, is one agency that did something radically different and remarkably creative. They built their entire site in YouTube. It tells their story, shows their creativity, and completely differentiates them from the pack (it is also hilarious). www.BooneOakley.com . I am so impressed by their courage to be different compared to the rest of the pack. They take a stand and don’t water their message down trying to please everyone. They let their creativity shine. They’re memorable.

This week, take a hard look in the mirror and compare your business to your competitors. If you are like many companies and have very little true differentiation, maybe it’s time to explore the possibilities. Create a Top 10 list: The Top 10 ways our company could be radically different than our competition. Brainstorm how you can stop getting lost in the shuffle, and become the Boone Oakley of your industry.

As competition increases, the spoils will disproportionately go to companies and people who can escape the ordinary. In the words of Steve Wynn, “What would have drawn a ‘wow’ 15 years ago won’t draw a yawn today.” If you are not creating “wow”, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and pour your heart into breaking free from the sea of sameness.

Read More

New Thinking for the New Era of Business

Albert Einstein famously noted, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them.” In our post-COVID world of ...

When an Astronaut Needs a Pen

Ever get stuck on a problem, only to realize you're solving for the wrong thing? That's exactly what happened when the rocket scientists at NASA ...

How Shake Shack Drives Innovation

Do you prefer the crispy mozzarella, tempura watercress, and black garlic mayonnaise cheeseburger or the pumpkin mustard, bacon, cranberries, and sage hot dog? For something ...

Lady Gaga’s Secret to Creativity

Just before she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, I watched Lady Gaga dazzle the live audience with a pitch perfect performance of ...

Creativity: Does Size Matter?

For some reason, we’ve been taught that for creativity and innovation to count they need to have a magnitude the size of the 1989 San ...

The Lexicon of Creativity

There’s more confusion around the meaning of the word innovation than the chaos at the airline ticket counter after a cancelled flight. Is there a difference between ...

The Brain Science of Becoming More Creative

When we hear stories about iconic leaders like Salesforce.com’s founder Marc Benioff, or widely celebrated virtuosos like Lin-Manuel Miranda for that matter, we immediately think ...

Correct the Overcorrect

When the misguided leaders at Enron, Tyco and Worldcom committed fraud and marred their shareholders with huge losses, the Securities and Exchange Commission rightfully swooped ...

Learning to Color

Fact: Creativity has become the most needed skill in business. It’s gone from a nice-to-have to becoming mission-critical. Fact: Creativity is a learnable skill. All humans have ...