June 23, 2005
the “i was there” factor
Human beings want to be part of something.
We want to be able to say “I was there”.
I was there when Moses came down from the mountain.
I was there when Jimi Hendrix played The Star Spangled Banner.
I was there when the Americans liberated Paris.
I was there when the Red Sox won the World Series.
I was there when Apple released their first personal computer.
I was there when Starbuck’s opened their first store in Seattle.
I was there when Saul Bellow was signing books at Barnes & Noble.
When people talk about your product five, ten, twenty years from now, will they be saying “I was there”? Does your product have the “I was there” factor?
If not, should you be worried?
[Thanks to Evelyn for starting me thinking about this.]
Maybe it should be “I was part of that” rather than “I was there” then? Especially in this co-created-consumer-driven age…
Regards
DK
…I’ll get my coat…
Is it possible to foresee the “I was there” factor? It seems to me that it’s one of those things that can only be seen in hindsight; if the product goes on to become a huge success.
Can you foresee it? Sure you can. Sometimes you’re right (iPod), and sometimes you’re wrong (Segway).
When a product hits it big, have you ever said, “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s brilliant. It’s simple.” These things don’t fall out of the sky — someone saw it and jumped on board.
The trick is getting ahead of the crest of the wave, and not getting swamped.
Marc
Hugh Always Nails it on the Head
You do read Hugh McLeod’s business card-sized comics on his blog gapingvoid, don’t you?
…
I Was There
More good stuff from the gapingvoid
“Does your product have the “I was there” factor?”…
I wasn’t there,.….….hang on man wait a minute,
I think I was!
Oh gimme a break,
I don’t remember !
2 things:
1. If you think your product will change the world then you should be worried about the “I was there” factor. However, if you’re trying to carve a segment, the “I heard about those guys” will work just fine.
2. As time goes on people that weren’t even there will claim “they were there”.
i was there when they decided it was already good enough.
This is really important stuff… like, why do Super Bowl tickets cost so much when you can watch it on Big Screen LCD HD etc etc?
Check this, wrote it in Feb, just before the big game:
http://cada.typepad.com/cada/2005/02/whats_our_i_was.html
I was there with about 2.5 million other people on 14 July 1990 seeing Jean Michel Jarre live in La Defence, Paris, French.
Is it possible to create an “I was there” feeling purely on the internet?
What is the web equivalent of “I was there”?
tony asked:
“What is the web equivalent of “I was there”?”
I am early adopter of what could be the next ginger:
FrogPad — http://www.frogpad.com/link.asp?Ref=pheloxi
if you do not what know what a “ginger” is, the chance that you were not there is very big. for the gingerless amoung us it is Dean Kamen’s invention: the segway human transporter http://www.segway.com/
I was there in 1968
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne
I was there
…
You were present, but were you there?
Note: This post has been edited to reflect Doug Seven’s inherent greatness. His site was actually the…