The Otaku Strategy
Target the obsessives, not the masses — consumers with otaku are your sneezers, your evangelists, your engine of growth
The Otaku Strategy recognizes that not all markets are created equal when it comes to idea diffusion. Otaku — a Japanese term for obsessive interest — is at the heart of the Purple Cow phenomenon. Consumers with otaku are the sneezers who will take time to learn about your product, risk trying it, and invest their social capital in telling others. The task is to identify markets where otaku already exists and focus exclusively on them.
- Otaku is more than a hobby but less than an obsession — it's the desire that drives people to seek out and spread remarkable products
- Consumers with otaku are the sneezers you seek — they invest time, take risks, and tell friends
- Smart businesses target markets where otaku already exists
- Remarkable products often come from passionate people making something for themselves
- Find the market niche first, then make the remarkable product — not the other way around
- People without the otaku will struggle to invent products for people who have it
- Find Markets Where Otaku Already ExistsDon't try to create obsession from scratch. Smart businesses target markets where consumers already have otaku — the overwhelming desire to learn everything and tell everyone. There are more mustard consumers than hot sauce consumers, but hot sauce is a business and mustard isn't, because hot sauce fans have the otaku.
- Hire People Who Have the OtakuRemarkable products come from passionate people making something for themselves. Howard Schultz's coffee otaku built Starbucks. Burton's snowboard came from obsessed riders. Ask potential employees how deeply they engage with your product category — people without the otaku will struggle to invent for those who have it.
- Develop the Otaku or Learn to ProjectIf you don't have personal otaku for what you make, either learn the art of projecting — getting inside the heads of people who care deeply and making what they'd love — or learn the science of projecting by launching, watching, measuring, learning, and repeating. Immerse in fan magazines, trade shows, and design reviews.
- Design for the Obsessed, Not the MainstreamMake irresistible products for a tiny group of easily reached sneezers with otaku. Irresistible is not the same as outrageous or ridiculous. Comedy Central's South Park scored 1.5 out of 10 with women in focus groups — three women cried — but it was irresistible to its target audience and became a monster hit.
- Let the Otaku Community Convert OthersWhen the product stays remarkable, some of the lazy mainstream consumers will be converted to the otaku. They start the next wave, spreading the mania to new areas. Find the market niche first, then make the remarkable product — not the other way around.
Godin borrowed the Japanese concept of otaku to explain why some markets generate viral spread while others don't. He observed that hot sauce outsells mustard in specialty channels despite a smaller consumer base, because hot sauce fans have otaku — they order by mail, request specific brands at restaurants, and proselytize to friends. Starbucks succeeded because Howard Schultz had a genuine coffee otaku, while the company's chocolate offerings remained mediocre because nobody there was obsessed with chocolate.