Glow in the dark

While growing up, almost every kid in the neighborhood with some amount of street credit to their name had a glow-in-the-dark sticker, star, or toy. It was a must-have, a definition of cool, a basic benchmark of wow. Gender neutral, price tag irrelevant, and completely above the rules of practicality.

What is it about that feeling? It was the first time in our little heads we felt pure wowza and didn’t need to explain it. No one asked why it cost what it did. No one asked why they needed it. No one weighed the benefits. Nothing. Zilch. Just wowza.

(Yeah, yeah, toddlers don’t exactly care about income disparity or any of that noise.) But make it glow in the dark and I’m instantly back in those childhood days where my brain could only think of one thing:  this.

Sell me that feeling and I won’t be asking why.

Two important pulse monitors, and maybe a job list for “the French Maid” (scroll down for that post):

Will your brand glow in the dark? If all your competition suddenly collapsed, would you be strong enough to be the category? (Read: Tabasco.)

Can your brand turn the lights off for the consumer? Once bought, they’ll have no reason to turn the lights on to look for anything else in the category. (Read: Once you go Mac, you never go back.)

I know I’m asking brands to be the Sachin Tendulkar of cricket or the Michael Jordan of basketball. But hey, “don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.” ~ Unknown