Free Prize Inside: The Next Big Marketing Idea by Seth Godin, Portfolio,
256 pages, Hardcover, May 2004, ISBN 1591840414
Last year, Seth Godin published a wildly popular book called Purple Cow. You may have heard of it (I’m kidding). The book was all about creating remarkable products and services. It really answered the question of “what is a remarkable product?” Seth is back and he is going to show you how to make a remarkable product with his new book Free Prize Inside.
Free Prize Inside focuses on who within an organization or workplace should be doing the work of being remarkable. The idea is not to throw more money at R&D or advertising, but to come up with what he calls “soft innovation.” It is as simple as coming up with a remarkable idea (think Tupperware parties and frequent flier miles). The Free Prize is the thing that makes you or your product remarkable. A Free Prize is about satisfying wants versus needs. Don’t give your customers more, give them something extra.
It is a fresh look at not only coming up with remarkable ideas but also implementing them. It is not the marketing folks’ job to introduce new products and services. Every person in an organization can come up with these ideas. Getting people in your organization to go along with your idea is key and he has nifty tactics for getting others to co-champion an idea with you. No more brainstorming. No, instead try “edgecrafting.” Products and services have lots of edges and he spends thirty pages talking about how you can find yours.
And just to prove his point of the importance of a Free Prize, the first print run is packaged in a cereal box (remember the milk cartons?). The other “free prize” included is a spoof copy of the Wall Street Journal called titled “THIS IS NOT THE JOURNAL”. It is loaded with quirky bits about the book.
The thing about Seth Godin is this: he doesn’t beat around the bush. He tells it like it is. And he puts his money where his mouth is on how to do it: Free Prize Inside includes an actual free prize and is a remarkable Purple Cow.
