Buzz Pressure

Carm (my wife) found possibly the most tragic, cautionary example of why you need to be market driven. For the benefit of those non-Canadians or non-caffeinated reading this posting: every year Tim Hortons (think Duncan Donuts) runs a contest called “Roll up the Rim“. The contest runs for a couple of weeks or until Tim Hortons runs out of cups.

Most Canadians gnaw at their cup to make the rim malleable enough to discover that they have to “play again”. Mr. Kind, the inventor of the “Rimroller” obviously was unhappy chewing away on his cup like some caffeine crazed freak trying to get every ounce out of his coffee, or more correctly every millilitre for us Canuckleheads.

Actually when I think of Mr. Kind, I imagine a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches — a sort of Curious George character. Clearly Mr. Kind is far too dignified to gnaw his way to disappointment and Roll up the Rim defeat. But you know you missed the mark when your sole distribution channel has taken pity on you and is only stocking your product because they feel so darn bad:

Paul Kind, had plowed a ton of time and capital into bringing the product to the point where it was ready to market. So, while Lee Valley is clearly not the most appropriate retailer of this product, we could only stand by for so long watching Mr. Kind work hard to sell this product without success.

Ouch. So other then the fact that Mr. Kind wasn’t very successful what else can we learn from this tragic story? That Lee Valley will pick up your crap if you’re unsuccessful? Um no but yeah they do seem to be reinforcing bad behaviour but you have to applaud their support.

Ok yeah the title was a clue. I have a feeling if Mr. Kind spent a little time with the market he would’ve discovered that while his invention is novel, his design elegant if not decidedly brown, it isn’t a “must have” product with a compelling, overt user benefit. Note: reducing cup gnaw is apparently not overt.

I’m sure this invention was justified throughout its development because I bet Mr. Kind has rolled up a rim or two in his time. Man that sounds dirty. But it is that “I’m the market” point that is probably the biggest learning here. It is really easy to say you are your market but the second you become inventor you’re no longer your market. Mr. Kind’s market is scarfing crappy coffee and downing sugary fat. They’re not taking risks, developing an invention. Hopefully the cost of tuition for this little learning wasn’t too much for Mr. Kind.

The good news is that it was free for all of us — unless in a moment of sympathy and weakness you popped for a Rim Roller. Now get out there and talk to your market, your fans and more importantly your critics.

Of course you can’t expect the market to tell you exactly what they want. They haven’t a clue but they know what they like when they see it and they know where it hurts. Now run along and invent and refine products that make your users’ world a better place.