Being different, is really being the same

I found this interesting observation from marketing guru Seth Godin, about an experience he had when he visited a Starbucks and noticed that all 5 people with notebook computers were using Mac notebooks.



As he states, "when your entire culture is organized about being the other, the outsider, the insurgent, the one that's better than the masses... (like Starbucks, btw), what do you do when you are the masses?".



But the point brought up by Seth Godin from a business marketing point of view is a good one, for if like the Mac you market yourself as being the brand for people who "Think Different", what happens when you are adopted by the majority and become the product of those who "Think Similar"?

An interesting dilemma for those involved with marketing a brand and the strategic implications inherent with it.

On a similar note, I can recall a conversation I had with a long time friend of mine from high school where we reminisced about how we thought we were being so cool and rebellious listing to heavy metal, punk, whatever and having long hair or spiked hair and adopting all attitudes required to comply with the image doing this entailed, but in reality we were really conforming to a teenage prescribed notion of "cool", which was anything but rebellious.

In addition, I have no doubt that at that time this image was researched and carefully thought out and nurtured by music and other entertainment executives, which was picked up on by clothing companies, to get those very parents we were rebelling against to buy the albums, CDs, clothing, hairstyles, etc. into a very profitable venture.

You gotta love the irony!