A few years ago, my wife and I visited the Croatian island of Korcula. We arrived on a Sunday night. The plan was to do some sightseeing on Monday, and return to Dubrovnik on Tuesday so we could take the flight back to Miami Wednesday morning. Early on Monday, we walked to the bus station to get our ticket, only to have the attendant tell us: “sorry, it is not possible”. The bus schedule had changed, and instead of the usual daily buses to Dubrovnik, there was only one bus per week, on Sundays.
Our first reaction was to laugh, not at the situation, mind you, but at the expression: “Sorry, it is not possible”. We’d already heard it many times during our trip, after asking questions like: may we have a late check-out? or, may I substitute fries for the salad? As Americans, we don’t like to be told that something is not possible (“Just Do It”, remember?) so we immediately started looking for options:
- Boat or ferry? Sorry, not possible. Winter schedule: next ferry leaves on Wednesday.
- Plane? Sorry, not possible. No planes.
- Rental car? Sorry, not possible. All booked.
Then we thought, what about a taxi? Now, you don’t usually take a taxi for a 200 km trip, but when you’re running out of options and you must absolutely, positively find a solution or else… you can get very creative very quickly. We decided to talk to the hostel operator about this option, and fortunately for us, her best friend happened to be a taxi driver. She offered to take us for $200, more or less what she made in a full day’s work.
Granted, $200 was more than the bus would have cost us, but the bus option didn’t exist any more. On the other hand, a hundred bucks per person may sound expensive, but only if you see it as a taxi ride. If you look at it as a half day excursion in a comfortable car, driven by a helpful local who can show you all the small towns along the way, and take you to the best spots to eat and take pictures, it starts sounding like a bargain. By changing our frame of reference from “taxi ride” to “excursion” we were able to find a creative solution to our problem.
Changing our frame of reference is a great way to come up with creative solutions and innovative brand ideas:
- A 4-door coupe? Impossible? Not really. It just took a few good questions and a different way of looking at things for auto makers to notice that what people want in a coupe is not necessarily two doors, but streamlined styling.
- A successful mobile restaurant that spends $0 on advertising and relies just on Twitter word of mouth to bring people in? Impossible? Not at all… Just ask the folks at Kogi BBQ and Latin Burger. By changing their frame of reference from “fast food operator” to “exclusive club (Twitter followers)” they were able to build a thriving business model.
- $20 for flip flops? Impossible? Try possible. The brand managers at Havaianas can probably tell you how changing their frame of reference from “basic footwear” to “fashion accessory” made charging such a premium price possible.
Sometimes all it takes to solve a problem or come up with a good idea is to step out of our little mental ghettos and look at things from a different perspective.
I like the whole ‘lemons to lemonade’ way of looking at things. That’s the way I try to live my life as well.
This is great! Brand Marketing is an essential engine of business, and changing the consumers’ thoughts of your brand and swaying them into your favor can be huge for marketing returns.