Little Miss Matched Socks
If you follow the marketing legend Seth Godin you will be familiar with the company Little Miss Matched, which started off by selling sets of three mismatched colourful socks to girls. The company decided to take advantage of the issue that one sock in a pair always gets lost, so why not sell socks that are purposefully mismatched. Seth has referenced Little Miss Matched a number of times in books and blog entries, and in return Little Miss Matched annually sends him a box of 33 mismatched socks, and I understand that he wears these socks every day.
I have been intrigued with the Little Miss Matched story since I came across it in one of Seth’s books, so today I thought I would check out their website. It would seem that having a remarkable or unexpected product (or what Seth refers to as a Purple Cow) is a strong basis for brand extension, and the company has expanded into other colourful clothing and apparel (pajamas, baby clothes, t-shirts), bedding, bedroom furniture, and accessories.
In an industry where it is incredibly difficult to compete with low cost manufacturers, being unexpected and different must almost be an essential ingredient to survival.
In previous entries I have talked about unexpected ideas that require massive investment – building a flying car, mining the moon for rocket fuel, and taking tourists into space. Little Miss Matched shows us that we can develop unexpected products with smaller investment and bigger imagination. In Seth’s words “Kudos to Little Miss Matched for taking a little product and turning it into a big story”.
For a little fun I have included a video submitted to the Little Miss Matched short film contest.
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