Dollar Shave Club Does What Every Business Should Do

…They solve a problem or two, and create a brand with huge personality.

I realized I’d better talk about Dollar Shave Club when I found myself clicking the “Back” button on my browser so I could read more about the Humble Twin razor. I already knew that it was the razor I wanted – it’s the cheapest, and it only has two blades (for me, more blades = more irritation) – but I still went back.

I clicked “Back” because the blade was presented with a personality, and I wanted to learn more about that. It’s much like when I meet someone I have something in common with, I want to learn more about them. We all do it.

Beyond the beaming personality presented by Dollar Shave Club is a great business model. They solve a major problem: expensive razors. They also provide convenience in that the razors are automatically mailed each month.

If you want to see some fine marketing in action, check out DollarShaveClub.com. The website talks to you with fantastic energy, and it answers all of your questions (if you mail ordered CDs in the 90s, you’ll understand the second screenshot). You may have already been to the website; Dollar Shave Club’s video went viral last week. Watch it below, and you’ll probably end up watching it twice.

Dollar Shave Club has really started with a bang. It’ll be interesting to see how they keep things going. The company has built a solid brand, but in these times (with social media) it’s also important to listen and interact with customers. If they maintain their brand identity while Retweeting, commenting, and replying to fans, they may put Gillette out of business.

If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of fun in a brand, check this out.

Click right here to see what marketing guru Seth Godin has to say about Dollar Shave Club.

Sword Fights in Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is the thing I’ve heard most about in predictions for 2012. Sorry to keep bringing those things up, but this isn’t about predictions. This is just an informal post about augmented reality, and my idea for a sweet augmented reality game.

First of all, augmented reality is a way of seeing reality through a camera, on a screen. It’s that webcam effect that takes a picture and makes it look like your were underwater, or that iPhone appthat shows you all the constellations when you hold your phone toward the sky.

As a student of communications, I’m aware that many great minds believe we already live in an augmented reality. Many psychologist and philosophers say we see things through the languages we speak. Yellow is yellow because we call it yellow. It wouldn’t exist in our reality if we didn’t have a word for it. I’m not sure I agree with this theory as it’s extremely complicated, and very difficult to prove. It is certainly one of the most interesting topics I’ve ever talked about though.

Philosophical beliefs aside, here’s my idea:

A sword fighting game.

Two people hold their devices up so they can see the screens. They’re aiming the device cameras (not the face cameras, the ones on the back) at each other. On the screen, one sees the other. They hold up something that looks like a light saber without the light, just the handle. The device’s camera detects that handle, and creates a blade on the screen.

Bystanders see two people dueling with invisible swords. The duelers see an intense battle. When the blades clash, one must not move his sword through the other’s sword. If he does, the sword slips, and his opponent has an advantage. When the blades clash, the competitors must hold their wands steady, and slowly push toward each other’s blades, but only when their screen flashes. The first one to push at the wrong time slips. When someone gets stabbed, the vision gets blurry and wobbly.

There could even be a headset that holds the device in place.

How cool would that be? I mean, I’ve never tried it or anything, but I bet it would be fun. At least until the novelty of augmented reality wears off. Then, you’d have to have some kind of proximity-based ranking system (or some other competitive marker) to keep gamers interested. Either way, that’s my idea. What do you think?

Now for a tangent: Now that I’ve written this, I technically own the copyright (unless someone I don’t know of wrote this idea before me). However, if a large company wanted to steal my idea, they would. They know they could win in a court case because they’ve got the money for the lawyers. They could just keep fighting it until I have nothing left to fight with. It’s happened throughout history. It happens today, it happened when radio was invented.

At that, I’d like to offer, to anybody who wants to purchase my idea, the cost of half of what it would cost to take me to court for it. That’s a great deal, if you ask me.

One more thing, if SOPA/PIPA gets passed, it won’t be able to protect my intellectual property rights any better than the laws of the past protected the small guys.

Related articles

• Wikitude voted Best Augmented Reality Browser 2011 (droidflash.wordpress.com)
• Birds and Mice Come to Life on Your Plate With Augmented Reality App [VIDEO] (mashable.com)
• Typographic Optical Illusions Predict The Future Of Augmented Reality (InnovationToronto.com)

Best Slogan of the 2011 Holiday Season

“Santa has elves, you have Target.”

• It’s a fulcrum phrase.
• It’s drenched in cute humor.
• It illustrates what Target does for the consumer.

The Most Entertaining Christmas Countdown: 12 Days

There are 24 days left in the Christmas season:12 days until Christmas, then 12 days of Christmas! You’ll be playing today’s gift long after Christmas is gone. I give you the addicting, super fun computer (and now mobile too!) game, Icy Tower.

Click here to choose whether you want to download Icy Tower for Windows, Mac, or iPhone.

OR

Click here to use the Icy Tower app on Facebook (in my opinion, it’s not quite as good as the original version, but it’s still great).

“New Look, Same Great Taste” is DEAD

“Don’t forget to check out our new look!”

Even that would be a better ad slogan than the uber-cliche, “new look, same great taste.”

People are almost completely desensitized to that phrase by now. It means nothing to a consumer because it’s a phrase they hear too much. They subconsciously drown it out.

Just a week ago, I saw a billboard on the road I drive to work. It was a McDonald’s billboard. Their yearly advertising budget is the highest in the restaurant industry. Yet, their brilliant marketers couldn’t come up with something more creative than “new look, same great taste” when they remodeled their building.

I believe advertising is an art. I don’t want to see the same painting over and over again. Give me fresh entertainment, and I will be happy to give you my business.

Here are some slogans I’ve come up with that I think would be better than “new look, same great recipe (or whatever)”:

“How do you like our new paint job? Vote for a chance to win at CoolProduct.com”

“Finally our looks match our food, fresh.”

“We changed our look to enhance your enjoyment.”

“Same recipes, new cookbook.”

PS: My brain is available for hire! And if you hire my brain, I’ll throw in my heart free of charge.

What Makes Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! a Great Game?

Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! for the original Nintendo Entertainment System is ranked 17th on Nintendo Power magazine’s top 200 games list.

Click here to play Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! in your web browser for free. Use the Z and X keys to throw a body shot, hold the up arrow key while pushing Z or X to throw a head shot, and use the left and right arrow keys to dodge. Each landed punch causes a decrease in the victims health meter. It’s that simple. Or is it?

It’s a little more detailed than that. If it was that simple, it would just be “button mashing.” There would be no real skill or strategy involved. What makes this one of the most loved retro games of all time is the ability to control, in a concrete way, the outcome of a fight. If it was just “button mashing,” we would get bored two minutes into the game because every fight would be a toss up. The outcome wouldn’t be based on our skill or strategy, it would be random.

The creators of the game added a few key features. The opponent changes to a pinkish hue just before he throws a punch. Instead of button mashing, the player can hit the dodge button as soon as he sees the flash. Then, if his timing is right, the opponent will miss, and the player has the opportunity to land several punches.

Further, if the player throws too many punches that are blocked by the opponent, his avatar turns a pinkish hue to show that he’s tired and won’t be able to dodge punches as easily.

Each opponent has a different style. Some have special moves that are more difficult to dodge. If you get a star, you can hit the start button to throw an upper-cut. And there are only a couple other rules that I haven’t mentioned.

It’s so simple, yet so complex. It’s simple because there are concrete rules. If the opponent flashes pink, hit the dodge button then throw a punch. Don’t throw too many punches if the opponent keeps blocking them, or you’ll become tired. There’s almost no luck involved.

The simplicity is beautiful. Yet, the fact that there are a handful of these rules, and each opponent has a different fighting “style” (if you play the game, you’ll know what I mean), adds just enough complexity to keep it interesting. If it was just throw as many punches as possible to increase your chances of winning, it wouldn’t be so popular.

As with any great video game, the outcome is almost 100% controlled by the player’s abilities.

As with any great work of art, Punch Out!! is simple enough to understand, and complex enough to escape into.