Reinvention is a Beautiful Word

Today my friend Suzie told me her brother was quitting his job to pursue his dream to live abroad (Hawaii apparently counts for "abroad") and live a more unconventional life for awhile. He's preparing to rent out his home which he owns and giving his employer notice. I always get inspired when someone shakes things up, and takes the bold step (or more likely hundreds of little steps) to turn a dream into a reality. Hearing the story of Suzie's brother landing himself in a new surrounding fires me up, in an addictive kind of way. It's pretty powerful. On a personal level, I don't want to move to Hawaii but I have a desire to hear more about his plans and get a taste of that enthusiasm he is feeling with the anticipation, hopes and possibilities of his personal re-invention. I'm a big believer in constantly re-inventing ourselves, it's totally necessary for all aspects of life to avoid those momentum-killing plateaus. What's great about the move Suzie's brother is making is that his re-invention matches his goals – he wants to experience a new way of life and he's curious about meeting people, understanding different cultures and the challenge of making a living without the 9-5. The spark of his reinvention came from his purpose and passion. It inspired me to consider when and what my last personal reinvention was … and what I have planned for around the corner? More to come on that...

Meanwhile, in my work world of product and consumer and marketplace that I live in each day, it made me think about how a product has the ability to transfer that same feeling to someone. If a brand can surprise and delight a consumer and ignite feelings of passion and
freshness and freedom, it can be a very powerful marketing tool. So I did a bit of exploring for examples of brands who have achieved this, curious to understand how they accomplished it and how me and my team might be able to apply this kind of thinking to our own creations. 

Porsche
The long standing brand known for sexy sport cars shook it up and entered the world of SUVs in the late '90s by launching the Cayenne S. It shocked some Porsche enthusiasts that a hyper cool brand would move into then rather uncool mode of transportation known to live mostly in suburbia. They felt it wasn't true to the Porsche brand. Turns out the $66,000 400-horsepower luxury SUV has been Porsche's best selling vehicle ever. One interesting fact of note is that Porsche decided to manufacture the Cayenne on German soil rather than other locations where labour costs might be cheaper, a move many of their competitors were doing. So while they may have diversified from its traditional sport car offering the company went back to its roots with the Cayenne from a manufacturing stand point.

Starbucks
From it's origins as a single store in Seattle's Pike Place Market selling whole beans to pioneering the high-end coffee house experience in North America, Starbucks has reinvented not only itself on several occassions but also an entire industry. When you and I go into a Starbucks store we're buying not only the coffee but also an experience - what Starbucks calls "that third place between work and home ... that celebrates coffee and a feeling of connection". Recently the company has put a new twist to the experience, launching pilot stores in Seattle and Portland that serve the usual line up of coffee drinks but also beer and wine choices for the afternoon and evening patrons, and an expanded food selection. On a recent visit to the Portland store at Brewery Blocks I was blown away by the impressive wine bar (which doubles as an art installation its so well displayed) and the unique masonary woody leather decor. It still pays homage to the true Starbucks experience but with a refreshing new twist. If the reinvention works to increase sales (foot-traffic or transaction volume metrics perhaps) we might see Starbucks scaling this out beyond the Pacific NW.

Do you know of any examples of brands reinventing themselves? What would you do differently if you were put in charge of another brand? I'd love to hear from you.

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks!