avatarKris Downey

Summary

The author recounts a personal experience at a restaurant to illustrate how a seemingly innovative idea, like the "Hope Diamond" cocktail, can have practical flaws despite initial enthusiasm.

Abstract

In a lighthearted anecdote, the author describes celebrating her husband's birthday at a Southern California restaurant, where they tried a new cocktail called The Hope Diamond. Despite its impressive presentation, the drink's large ice cube made it awkward to consume, leading to an underwhelming experience. This serves as a cautionary tale for marketers: even universally loved ideas can fail if not tested for usability, reminding us to apply a critical eye before implementation.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the concept of The Hope Diamond cocktail, while creative, was not thought through in terms of user experience.
  • She suggests that the creators of the cocktail likely focused on innovation and marketability rather than practicality.
  • The author implies that the unanimous approval of the cocktail idea within a group of consultants did not guarantee its success in execution.
  • She emphasizes the importance of considering potential drawbacks (in this case, the impractical ice cube) when evaluating new ideas, coining it the "Hope Diamond cocktail test."
  • The author hints at a broader lesson for marketing and product development, stressing the need for a practical assessment to accompany initial excitement over new concepts.

Marketing Lesson

Ever Have An Idea So Good Everyone Loves It?

Be careful, those are often the duds

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

Like many couples, Hubs and I celebrate our birthdays and anniversary with a fancy dinner. Well, sort of fancy. We skip our usual Saturday night pizza and Corona and make a reservation. Hub's birthday was last Saturday and since it was his big day he got to pick the place.

We live in sunny Southern California, a place with lots of palm trees, blowing sand, and fancy dinner options. He chose a place recommended by a total stranger he met at the golf course. We take our recommendations wherever we can get them.

Hubs made the reservation for 5:15 on Saturday night. We’re retired and like to eat early. Our idea of a perfect evening is one that gets us home and in our jammies by 8:00.

We scoped out the menu online and before getting there knew what we were ordering.

We arrived and were seated by a friendly and smiley server. She handed us the menu and pointed out the special cocktail on offer, The Hope Diamond. With a name like that, how could I refuse?

She brought our cocktails to the table placing a Grey Goose Martini, with stuffed olives, in front of Hubs. In front of me, she placed a stemware glass with a gigantic purple ice cube positioned in the middle of it. She then told me many guests like to video the pouring of The Hope Diamond.

I immediately got out my phone ready to capture the moment.

I admit there was a mini WOW as she poured the vodka over the gigantic purple ice cube and my drink began to turn lavender. The problem came with the actual drinking of The Hope Diamond cocktail.

With every sip, the gigantic purple ice cube bopped me in the nose. The ice cube never got smaller, and in order to avoid a frozen nozzle it was necessary to use two hands, one to hold the glass and the other to hold back the ice cube. Turns out The Hope Diamond is a two-handed cocktail.

I’m guessing, whoever came up with this fancy cocktail did not forsee the nose bopping. It definitely put a chill on the experience.

Having spent a good share of my career brainstorming fun and creative ways to get people to spend money, I get it.

I can see it now, a group of eager consultants gathered around trying their darndest to come up with a new pricey drink. And Voila, the Hope Diamond cocktail is born.

This idea likely got a unanimous thumbs up.

It is a great idea, just poorly executed.

What can we learn from this mini fiasco?

The big lesson, from my perspective, is this — the next time you’re ready to jump right in with an idea so good everyone loves it — take a moment and run it through the Hope Diamond cocktail test:

Does it bop anyone in the nose?

If so, you know what to do.

Marketing
Life Lessons
Advice
Humor
Ideas To Execution
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