Over the last few months I have had the pleasure of presenting The 16% Rule, my theory on accelerating diffusion of innovation, at the 2011 ADMA Forum and at The Customer Show, Sydney.

Thanks to everyone who came along to see me present, it is always an honour to speak in front of a full house.

And an extra special thank you for the kind ratings. I’ve been informed that The 16% Rule was rated among the top 5 presentations at ADMA Forum, and was a “crowd favourite” at The Customer Show.

I have now loaded up my presentation slides to SlideShare (below) for your reference. Shout out to Charlie Rose from Two Thorns for the great design job on the graphs.

Please feel free to comment or contact me if you have any questions about The 16% Rule.

Related articles

• The Secret to Accelerating Diffusion of Innovation: The 16% Rule Explained | INNOVATE OR DIE (innovateordie.com.au)

So I thought I would eat my own dog food, and put myself through some Innovate or Die questions.

What is the Innovate or Die all about?

At Innovate or Die we gain insights into innovative brands by interviewing the people behind them, in order to inspire others.

A new interview is posted every Friday, to give people food for thought over the weekend.

Why did you start Innovate or Die?

I started a blog called Maloney on Marketing in 2009, but over the years I learned that my posting behaviour was rather schizophrenic, covering whatever I was passionate about at the time.

While this approach was somewhat successful, as a marketer I knew that if I was going to build a brand I had to focus my energy. So I took my two biggest passions from the Maloney on Marketing blog, interviewing business owners and writing about innovation, and turned it into Innovate or Die.

Finally, Innovate or Die is now all about the insights of the people we interview, not just my own, which allows for much more room to grow moving forward.

Where did the name “Innovate or Die” come from?

“Innovate or Die” has been a popular saying in the business world for a long time now, and it is something I truly believe in. If you look at the pile of brands left behind by Apple and Google you get a sense of how powerful this statement is in the new world of business.

From a branding perspective, it is short, memorable and the url was available (which is more important that we often admit!). The use of Innovate in the title should also help from an SEO perspective.

However, in reality I was probably mostly influenced by one of my favourite websites “Funny or Die”

Who is Innovate or Die for and what is special about them?

Innovate or Die is for innovative entrepreneurs, be they current or aspiring. They are not fond of the status quo and want to be a part of something new and different. The behind-the-scene interviews on Innovate or Die are designed to inspire and challenge these entrepreneurs, and remind them why what they do is what they do.

Innovate or Die is also popular with marketing professionals who find the insights valuable in building the brands they work on.

Where do you find the people you interview on Innovate or Die?

It varies, but generally I like to have met and had a first hand experience with people before I interview them. So whenever I meet people that run businesses I am very inquisitive to see if they might be right for Innovate or Die.

However, recently I have been personally approached by several people interested in being interviewed (mostly via LinkedIn), so I look into their business and see if I think they would have an interesting story that Innovate or Die subscribers would enjoy reading.

How are you marketing Innovate or Die?

People mostly find out about Innovate or Die through word of mouth or search. We do have a relatively large email subscriber base and I promote interviews through Linked In, Facebook, Twitter etc which helps drive traffic.

Whenever I do a speaking gig, traffic and subscribers tend to spike, and soon I am planning to start doing some advertising around the web in order to build a bigger Innovate or Die community.

What has been the best part of starting Innovate or Die?

By far the people I get to meet and interview. There is something magnetic about people who choose to quit their job and do what they love. Every interview I publish inspires me.

What has been the hardest part?

The back-end technical stuff that comes with running a website. I force myself to learn as much as I can, but to be totally honest it is not my strength. My laptop nearly went out the window the other night when I was trying to map a new domain to the blog.

What is the best piece of business advice you ever received?

“It is easier to beg forgiveness, than ask permission”

What’s next for Innovate or Die?

More and more interviews! I am currently considering going back to some of the businesses I interviewed 2 years ago for an update on what has happened since, and I am toying with the idea of video interviews.

We have also been approached by publishers about developing an Innovate or Die book, that I am working through the proposal on at the moment. All things going well we should be able to get something out early next year.

Finally, what is one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to start their own business?

Just go for it. Diving in the deep end is the best way to learn how to swim.

iinet is No.2

When I first saw the new iinet campaign where they claim to be the new No.2 in DSL Broadband, I quickly knew I had to write a blog post about how similar this campaign is to the great Avis “we’re no.2 so we try harder” campaign from the 1960s.

Fortunately, my friends over at Marketing Magazine have already covered this angle which frees me up to look a bit deeper into why this strategy will work for iiNet.

What message does “The New No.2” Send to Consumers?

The iinet case is different to Avis’ because iinet are “the new no.2” which is demonstrating social proof that iinet has grown big enough that it must be doing something right.

The fact that iinet is No.2 was a big surprise for me, as I am sure it is for a lot of people. When I left Australia in 2009, iinet were a small aggressive challenger, but in the few years since it it turns out they made some big acquisitions (Netscape, AAPT) that really put them on the market share map.

iinet must be doing something right

The new no.2 is a great social proof message as it shocks consumers into wanting to know why.

Why is Now a Good Time for a Social Proof Message for iinet?

With my Diffusion of Innovation theory titled The 16% Rule, I make the case that at around 16% market share brands need to change their messaging strategy from one of scarcity, to one of social proof in order to attract the early mass.

In September 2010, iinet announced that it had reached 15% market share of the fixed broadband market. By now they must be edging towards the magic 16%, so making the switch to social proof messaging is the best communication strategy they can take.

My favourite execution of the campaign is below. It is my favourite because of how the line “It took 18 years for this to happen over night” beautifully demonstrates my 16% rule theory that if you are going to achieve fast diffusion of innovation, the mass market really shouldn’t know about it for some time (Innovators and Early Adopters need to experience it first).

It took 18 years to happen overnight

This paradox happens all the time in the supermarket, just look at the toothpaste isle. Consumers will always face this paradox and marketers simply have to help them get around it long enough to make the sale.

In many categories, marketers are trimming their product lines to reduce this paradox of choice for consumers. Comedian Stephen Colbert was outraged recently that in 2008 there was 412 varieties of toothpaste available to American consumers. In 2011 that number plummeted to 352.

The Paradox of Choice Reduces in Toothpastes

The most popular book written on this subject is that of Dr. Barry Schwartz, whose The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less has become an influential work in the minds of marketers for its insight into the way humans make decisions, especially in the free market.

After examining two studies, a jam-tasting and a chocolate-tasting, in which one test group was given a small number of options and the other group was given over twenty options, Schwarz discovered that the large number of options discouraged the groups from even making a decision as to which jam or chocolate to purchase.

Schwarz writes, “The effort that the decision requires detracts from the enjoyment derived from the results. Also a large array of options may diminish the attractiveness of what people actually choose.”

So, how do marketers deal with these two possible consequences of the paradox of consumer choice?

Well, first they should strive to make the decision-making process effortless and enjoyable. If the consumer has to do all the research to learn about the product on his or her own, then the decision to buy the product simply becomes another chore!

Think of recent product launches in a saturated market, such as the electronic gadgets industry, and look at how the more successful launches made the decision-making process enjoyable.

The way that Apple marketed the iPad as an entertainment device, rather than a personal computer speaks volumes about how smart Apple is when considering the ‘fun factor’ in consumer spending.

Even the act of shopping for an iPad is much more fun than that of shopping for a computer, mostly because of how Apple stores are set up to allow any potential customer to play with the product for as long as he or she desires.

Secondly, think of ways that marketers try to make their product one of few options in an over-saturated market.

Again, Apple’s marketing of the iPad is an excellent example of how a company tried to reduce the options that a consumer might have through clever marketing.

The iPad was marketed as a solution to all of the consumer’s media needs; this is obvious in the many commercials Apple ran that showed the iPad doing a wide variety of media tasks.

With Apple we see a marketing team successfully narrowing down the list of consumer options, thus trying to negate the effects of the paradox of consumer choice. Make sure you keep this paradox in mind for your next product launch.