What’s the big hairy monster in your category? Is it an aging population? For a long time, Cadillac was faced with the fact that most of its customers were dying. Is it a new technology? Is it, like Wal-Mart, the environment? Or, like Nintendo, the effects its industry was having on customers? Face it. Every business has big hairy monsters.
Think about how you can embrace the big hairy monster. What can you do to start a dialogue about your monster? Can you engage your customers? Can it be reflected in your product design and your communications? Just like Wal-Mart, you’ll probably not be able to tame the monster, or even necessarily solve the problem, but you can start working on it. The key is to start a movement with momentum. Customers love it when they see consistent behavior in the right direction, and they want to support companies that face up to their big hairy monsters.
