Such is the story of Maya Gilbert who, along with two friends, has put together a company called "Surprise Industries," which--as she puts it--"crafts surprise experiences in NYC."  (To paraphrase the ancient Red Rose Tea slogan, "Only in New York, you say?  Pity...").  According to Ms. Gilbert, she got the idea by visiting the Something Store (found here and featured in my Pow! book), but said that the real, word-of-mouth-generating win would be from concocting life-altering experiences instead of a random product at your doorstep.

Sound crazy?  Well, these guys seem to be busy planning everything from flight school to sword swallowing (check out their insanely busy schedule), and you never know what you're embarking in or on...until you get there.

Response has been great, so check out the video below (which does a way better job of selling the concept...and the thrilled delightful response to it).

And then hit Maya up for a franchise for your town.

Surprise Industries Teaser from Surprise Industries on Vimeo.

Like all Canucks with a more-than-modest modicum of national success under its belt, Tim Hortons is trying to crack the American market, and as a patriotic compadre, I wish I could wish them well. 

But I'm scared.  Here's why:

This one hurts, guys, as you have become a deserved and much beloved icon above the 49th parallel, but trust me, there is NO WAY you're gonna do it, not a Timbit's chance in a meatgrinder, with a namby-pamby, dull, say-nothing slogan like:

Tim Hortons: 

Where Quality Meets Value

I couldn't believe it when I first heard it, thinking that is was some sort of parody or Canada-bashing joke.  But no, there it was, confirmed in a somewhat biting article in Brandweek.

Not that "Always Fresh" is a work of creative genius, but "Where Quality Meets Value"?  That could be the slogan for 10,000 nondescript, dull, uninspiring businesses, from a corner shoe store to a wholesale meat packing plant.  This is the anti-slogan, one which must've been composed by a mole being surreptitiously funded by Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks or Krispy Kreme...and being high-fived as I write this.

Holy jeez.  Someone PLEASE tell me this is some mistake.  In the meantime, I think I'll drown my sorrows and say my prayers over a single-single.

Here's today's lob ball, courtesy of "The Laugh Shop" in Calgary's Blackfoot Inn...

Ya know, I ran the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival for 15 years, and saw all types of reactions to comedians--people fell off chairs, tumbled out of seats, needed a hit of oxygen, hit one another, even climed up on stage to smack a performer.

But I never saw anything quite like this. Guess they're funnier out west. 

This is part of a billboard, radio, print and online banner campaign (can't wait to hear the radio ads!).  May not be everyone's taste, but does indeed check the box on the "Shock and Ahhh" category of Surprise-generation.

Uh...just thought of a great ad for a scary House of Horrors next hallowe'en ;)

“Consumer behavior is one of the hardest things to change.  The gap between the existing and the new has to be materially better that it shocks you into a behavior change.”

Early adopters may cut new swaths, particularly in the digital blogfacetweet space, but the vast majority of the real world takes the path of least resistance. Read Neale Martin’s underrated book “Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore” for a deeper understanding.  Getting them off that path is perhaps marketing’s greatest challenge (which is why I megaphone the shock of Surprise on a constant basis, but you already know that…).

“Hulu was a breakthrough service but people are never satisfied.  It (ostensibly the market for TV on the net) was a desert and Hulu provided water, but now the people also want food and table settings.”

They're called Washington Walnuts, a classic tactical use of the Time-Bombing tactic explained so eloquently in my oft-mentioned Pow! book.  Each real shell contains a folded up dollar bill, mixes undetected into a bag of regular walnuts, and pays off to a lucky Surprisee once cracked...sort of a positive spin on the ol' razor-blade-in-the-apple or needle-in-the candy Hallowe'en tricks of yore.

They sell for a somewhat steep $15 per bag of three; such is the cost for ingenuity and painstaking labor, I suppose.  You can get yours for yours online from the Shopsin's General Store.

And now, off to answer the first of many knocks at the front door...

Here are a couple of costumes that I can show you without being arrested, sued...or beseeched by job applicants (names and identities withheld to protect the guilty):

New this year, thanks to rookie HR Manager Trish Maharaj, was a 30-minute team pumpkin-carving contest, which featured this somewhat violent homage to yours truly and his managerial style:

The ultimate winner showed a little more decorum with this Tim Burton-esque creation:

The end result?  Well, a little mess and a whole lot of come-together fun. The trick is doing things like this.  Always well-appreciated. The treat is who we do it for.

Times may be tough, and the business climate always challenging, but it's days like this that make me appreciate coming to work with those who come to work with me. 

Speaks volumes about the way our mind works, and proves unequivocally the Surprise Theory #3 that Little Things Mean A Lot.

Killer, killer, killer.  Oh please let this be real and not a Balloon Boy-esque hoax! (Much thanks to Caro and Kelly for turning me on to this one.)

That said, check this one out:

Comes from a place called "Gotstyle," which is perhaps the hippest men's store in all of eastern Canada. (So many menswear shops purport to be a "lifestyle" boutique or "full experience," but this hidden gem is the real deal.  Check 'em out here...but back to their card.)

Now, every well-dressed man knows the value of a proper collar stay (this blogger even has his own set of multi-length brass ones in a leather pouch...which would sound perverse if I weren't talking about collar stays...but I digress), and what happens when one goes missing.  Not that you'll ever put this card into action, but the fact that you could if you need to makes it efficient, Pow!-worthy and fun. (Truth be told, these things make a nice little weapon if you need to poke someone's eye out...but I digress once again.)

Before you dismiss this idea as a bit of harmless (well, almost) fluff, consider that the Gotstyle card is one of many made by a company called Collar Card, which includes such sartorial superstars as Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom and Brooks Brothers as clients for its patented product, one their website describes as "the perfect product for the traveling businessman or any contemporary man on the go."

Indeed!

"Pay It Backward"

So where would I be without these faithful, creative FOPs?  Well, without a post today, frankly.  This one's from my son Aidan, who perhaps sent this along as a hint for a gift for his upcoming birthday...

Very reminiscent of the Something Store I profiled in the Pow! book, the Hipstery is a t-shirt site that's way more about selling the element of you-know-what than merely selling a decorated cotton fashion item. The "About" section is more entertaining that most humour sites (particularly their Return Policy, well worth scrolling down to), and obviously, I'm particularly enamored with their philosophy, which goes:

"We believe, in a world increasingly losing mystery through rampaging technological advancement, we're forgetting how to enjoy the unknown, to take a chance. The Hipstery is our response."

So, how does it work?  There's a simple, three-step process (listed below, illustrated above) that connects you to your bounty.  As they put it:

RJ here.

I'm a Torontonian slash web entrepreneur (sold my baby sneakerplay.com - a social network for sneaker heads earlier this year)  - and the guy who tweeted about your book a couple of days ago.

I recently purchased your book and I only read the first chapter before my brain was flooded with cool ideas on how to surprise and delight customers...I will definitely be applying this to the project I work on in the future....and am looking forward to reading the rest of the book on flight I'm going on later this evening.

(Okay Andy, enough ego-stroking...get to the point!)

I just had to share this really creative application of "Surprise" service from a cafe in Japan that I came across via PSFK. It's about a mystery cafe called Ogori:

"In a nutshell, you get what the person before you ordered, and the next person gets what you ordered. Thus, if you’re in on the game, you can choose to be either a generous benefactor, and treat those that come after you – or try your luck at being cheap. Either way, it’s an interesting experiment that explores surprise, kindness and encourages interactions." (See photo below.)

How cool, and exciting, and scary, is this?  Gives a new meaning to "Uh, I'll have what she's having," doesn't it?  Check out the full story here.

So...why do this?  Well, one of the four main theories of creating Surprise is "Sometimes, There IS No Reason." There's a lot to say about the Karma you're puttin' out by playing the game, and it indeed DOES get people talking more than they would about your average Japanese corner snackbar.  To quote Cabel Saasser, who sent the story into the PSFK blog, "It was SO worth it."

No arguments here.

"How's the Pow! book going?"

My answer usually is this:

"Dan Brown or Malcolm Gladwell ain't shaking in their boots, but what I lack in sales power...I make up in impact."

What I've discovered is that Surprise is an acquired taste...like Maker's Mark bourbon, or Tom Waits (essentially, the same thing, but I digress).  I suppose if I can borrow a slogan from Alexander Keith's Pale Ale:

"Those who like it, like it a lot."

Case in point is this email I got from Matthew Aligaen-Cua, an entrepreneur and student of Applied Chemistry at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.  I've cut it down a bit, but tried to leave in his unbridled enthusiasm (so please excuse his intermittent grammar miscues, as it doesn't seem that English is his mother tongue) :

Hi Andy, 

After months of search your book here in the Philippines I finally got hold of it ! Woohoo ! And I'm blown away by your book. I must say this is one of the rare books that stops me to reach out for a pen and paper to write down stuff and ideas that is coming into my brain !

I just turned 21 and about to graduate from college and pretty much went all in loaning $30,000 to start a new company, everyone is pretty shocked to know what I did. WTH Matthew! is something that I keep on hearing and well sometimes it gets to you and thanks to your book I feel energized again.

I usually come up with crazy ideas and often apply it like start free photocopying for students (and actually making money out of it). Your book made what I did make sense even more and your book also gave me a few tips on how to create more POWS! and actually implementing it.

Cheers,

Matthew

You've seen this in high-faultin' restaurants, haven't ya? (You know, the ones where you don't use words like "high-falutin'" and "ya.")  Where the '84 Napa Cav is paired with the sauteed duck, and the Brunello is paired with the veal paillard?

Well, this from the cuisines of Burger King and the cellars of Coca-Cola:

If you can't read it, Coke is described as "Real, full-bodied taste with a refreshing bubbly finish" and pairs well with Whoppers.  Sprite has a "Crisp and full body with a whole lotta character" and pairs well with BK Chicken Fries (of course!), The Angus and Tendercrisp, while Dr, Pepper, whose "23 fruity flavors give it pep" pairs well with all of BK's Stackers.

A wine and cheeseburger party, anyone?

If you haven't already seen this (and if I missed it, chances are...), take a look at a most ingenious campaign for the next wave in all-inclusive mobile devices.  Who needs an Apple iPhone when you can have a Pomegranate MePhone?

Don't want to blow it for those of you who will see it for the first time (click on the link above or the picture), but given the truly inspired approach, I can forgive the somewhat contrived connection between the device and the reason for its creation. 

Once you get there, and get it, think of all the other ways--boats, lobsters, fish--the client could've TRIED to get your attention.

And think about what you've done that is STILL getting attention one year later.

Too late for the book indeed.  But definitely an add to the Pow! speeches.