Is small the new big?
February 9th, 2007 Sarah - Alicia Ashman
It didn’t take very long after the Super Bowl before I became tired of the constant commentary regarding Super Bowl ads.
As a matter of fact, can anyone remember, in all the hooplah about Bud Light ads and Doritos ads made by amateurs, who actually WON the Super Bowl?*
Perhaps my lack of patience for this topic can be traced to my new skepticism regarding ads aimed at the greatest possible number of consumers. Why skepticism? Because I’ve been reading a lot of books like Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More and Seth Godin’s Small Is the New Big: 183 Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. The ideas behind these books are simple, and seem logical to me: there is more stuff available to look at and buy than we can currently find, and niche businesses are the businesses of the future.
Of course, both of these authors have a much better way with words than I do: Anderson is the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, and Godin is a famous marketing guru. Do you agree that small is the new big? Disagree that there’s money to be made selling less of more? Read these books and let us know what you think!
*It was the Indianapolis Colts, by the way, 29-17.
Entry Filed under: Nonfiction
2 Comments Add your own
1. Madison Guy | February 9th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
The long tail and the Madison Public Library: My favorite long tail organization, and why I hate to see parts of the tail snipped off, necessary as it may be.
2. Sarah | February 12th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Hey, Madison Guy, I’ve been feeling that for years…that the public library is ideally poised to take advantage of the idea of the long tail, so I’m glad to see others think so as well! Have you read the Godin book? What do you think of his ideas?
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