Time 33:11

Some how the color purple has become associated with remarkable things. The marketing community probably owes it all to Seth Godin and his book Purple Cow written in 2003 . “Wait stop the car!” now that’s something special.

We could go back to the dawn of time to Barney the Purple dinosaur, now that must have caught Grog’s attention, so remarkable even a… well you know the rest.

However, my vote for the most remarkable purple reference would have to be the resurrection of Christ long symbolized with the color purple. Now that’s remarkable.

But for this podcast we’ll stay a bit closer to Godin’s application of remarkable, and it’s appropriate because he is viewed by many as a marketing god who appreciates a good paragraph when he sees one.

Enter Stan Phelps, who with due deference to Godin is working on the Purple Goldfish Project, a quest to obtain 1,001 examples of purpleness, remarkable ways companies large and small are treating customers. Phelps adds a bit of his own twist which he borrows from the Louisiana culture called Lagniappe (Lan-yap). Lagniappe is synonymous for “the gift.” In the Bijou, lagniappe was the little extra a merchant would go to make you feel special. For example, butchers would give you a bone if they knew you had a dog, or the baker would toss in the extra donut just because you may have had a house full of kids.

Marketing Lagniappe is what Stan and I talk about in this podcast. Stan invites everyone to contribute to the Purple Goldfish Project, by submitting examples at the Marketing Lagniappe website. Here are a few examples:

Lou Mitchell’s (#83 submitted by CAA’s Simon Green) “There are reasons native Chicagoans and tourists alike consider Lou Mitchell’s a must-visit — from the donut holes and milk duds while you wait to the double-yolk eggs that make every dish even more sinfully indulgent, Lou’s knows how to do breakfast. Located in the South Loop, the restaurant has been a Chicago institution since 1923, and decades later, they’re still dishing out thick French toast, enormous platters of pancakes, fresh-baked pastries, and of course, those famous skillets.

Courtyard by Marriott (#57 submitted by PR Workbench’s and eNR’s Jack Monson)

“A few years ago, I was traveling to the Twin Cities often and stayed several times at the same Courtyard By Marriott in the suburb of Eden Prairie since it was close to two clients’ HQs. By the third trip in a few weeks’ time, I had a nice surprise waiting for me. I walked in after a cold and delayed trip from Chicago to see a big sign in the lobby saying “Welcome Jack Monson”. The manager informed me that I was their guest of the week and gave me a card for free breakfast in the morning. (PS: Jack is a great sales person and account manager, I use eNR’s Matchpoint. I know that Jack also practices marketing lagniappe with his clients with attention to detail, listening to new product ideas, and pulling research reports to demonstrate the capabilities of the system.)

AJ Bombers (#152 Submitted by Phil Gerbyshak) One of my favorite Purple Goldfish is AJ Bombers (@ajbombers) in Milwaukee. Joe and his team consistently provide the Purple Goldfish by offering free peanuts…shot at you in metal WWII bombers. It’s way fun to get those from the bartenders. Making AJBombers even more fun is the fact he is on Twitter, recognizing customers and anyone who mentions the place, hosts Tweetups at Bombers, has guest bartenders where he donates shots folks can sell…with all proceeds going to the charity of the guest bartender’s choice. Full disclosure: I’ve been a guest bartender and raised money for my charity. Last but not least is everyone who wants one can get a Sharpie and put their Twitter handle anywhere they want at AJBombers, so when friends come in, they can look for your Twitter name and leave you a tweet…in real life.” (And where am I going the next time I’m in Milwaukee to visit my son at Marquette? You guessed it, I love the Twitter handle on the wall idea.)

Stan and I get into the discussion that all this purple warm and fuzzes can cost money. Well does it? Is this a question of money or priorities? My point is even the average can be remarkable. How? Focus on a few things where you are going to exceed expectations. Whether it’s service or product, but ask yourself, Do you have something in your offering that is worthy of writing home about? It used to be an expression, “nothing to write home about”, but who knew millions of people actually would be writing home about their experiences on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, et al. The Purple Goldfish Project is about writing home, join in by contributing to the project at Marketing Lagniappe.

One of my favorites is David Meerman Scott’’s World Wide Rave. Send me an email with with Rave in the subject line to marketingedge@providentpartners.net , we’ll include you in the drawing. In the podcast I make reference to an example that David has in the book from CWS advanced toilet systems and mentioned I’d have a link to the Clean Seats commercial that has more than a million views on You Tube

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