All the Small Things
“Life is made up of little moments that don't seem that important at the time, but in retrospect they're what get you to where you are.” - Penelope Ward
There are many variations of this quote. But this is not about some life altering inspirations. This is about product design. Particularly product design from a marketing lens. To be even more granular, how smallest of tweaks end up creating the biggest of moments. The butterfly effect of design.
The year was 2001, and I had just graduated from high school. In September, the Twin Towers came down, and New York City felt like a grey mass of defeat and helplessness. But life resumed in its true New York spirit. I remember taking trains to go to work and school and noticing the white wires of headphones. At first, it seemed odd, but I started seeing it more and more until it was impossible to ignore. Apple had just dropped the new iPod, and the white headphones now signified something else. Later, I learned that this was a pure marketing move. However, in that moment of 2001, you could see how quickly it grew from an anomaly to a symbol of status. I remember watching the news, and the anchors were warning subway riders to stay vigilant of iPod theft. Some people would purposefully start using older, standard black headphones to avoid their iPods being stolen. The white headphone was a waving signal of status, meaning, "I own the latest Apple product, and you don't." It grew so quickly that by the end of the year, if you did not have white headphones, you were not part of the cool kid club. What a genius, yet simple move it was! Just changing a color changed the trajectory of the company, product, sales, and also influenced how subsequent products were designed.
Original Ad for iPod. Courtesy of Apple.
Let's take it back a bit further to the year 1996, when P&G launched a new product - Febreze. At that point, P&G was already a giant in the industry with a proven track record of innovation. So now they had this new product that needed marketing to push it forward. They hired a 30-something named Drake Stimson, who had a background in math and psychology to lead their marketing team.
They quickly churned out two commercials and went about their business. However, they failed! No one was buying the product, and P&G was panicking. Drake and his team were shocked. They enticed retailers to keep samples by the register and tried so many things, but nothing was working.
Until they did proper research. They visited hundreds of homes and figured out why: people can't smell a scent after over-consuming it. That's why pet keepers couldn't smell the pet odors, which also applies to chain smokers. Stimson and the team understood the problem. How could they sell a product when customers had no need for it?
Property of P&G
Stimson and the team redesigned the product placement. New commercials were aired, and the tagline was rewritten from "Getting bad smells out of fabrics" to "Cleans life's smells." The once odor-removing spray was advertised as an air freshener that would give you a final touch after cleanup. Febreze was relaunched in 1998. After two months of the launch, sales doubled, and the company's revenue skyrocketed. Stimson's team finally got their bonuses, and Stimson got his promotion. Once again, a small tweak in the perception of the product propelled it from failure to instant success and a household name.
Now, let’s take it for one final spin and go back all the way to early 1900s. Back then people were as interested in brushing their teeth as a 3 year old. Nowadays, poor oral hygiene is not encountered often because it is not a social norm. Most of us carry Listerine strips, mouthwash, and gum with us at all times. Having fresh breath is as normal as wearing shoes outside. But it was not the case back then. In fact, by the time World War I came around, so many guys that were drafted had terrible teeth that the Army called poor dental hygiene a national security risk. At that time, processed food was becoming the norm, which created a bigger problem. Not that the companies weren't trying, but nothing was sticking. People would brush once in a while, but not enough to make it a habit. You can read more about it in the book titled “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg.
That all changed with a man named Claude Hopkins, an advertising genius who took on the struggling Pepsodent company and created a new campaign. After extensive research, he learned that all people have a natural “film” occurring on their teeth, and in reality, toothpaste didn't remove the film any better than an apple would. But Claude convinced people that this “film” was the source of their awkward smiles. Using vanity as his vehicle, he linked a beautiful smile to teeth brushing. But the real nail in the coffin of success was adding mint flavor to the toothpaste. As later discovered, there’s no cleaning benefit, but people feel better when there’s a bunch of suds around their mouth. Once the customer starts expecting that foam and minty flavor, it triggers satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, and assurance. This little touch of mint changed the history of oral hygiene and solidified Pepsodent as the leader of the industry.
I am sure there are many more examples of this throughout history of marketing and design. All this to say that sometimes the smallest change can have a biggest impact. It helps to see familiar problems from a different lens. Whether you are designing an app, a startup or any other entity remember that collaboration, research and just openness to interaction and interpretation could be your white wire, your mint. The one small thing that changes the trajectory of your success.
Don’t disregard the small, they make up your big.
