You’re not the first person to come up with that idea.

I’m a little sick of the narcissism involved when business people (myself included) get it in their heads that they’ve come up with an idea that hasn’t occurred to anyone else on the face of the planet. News flash: there are over seven billion people in the world, and ideas come a dime a dozen. You are not the first person to come up with that “brilliant” idea.

The difference between engineers and businesspeople is that good engineers come up with new ideas. Good businesspeople know there is no such thing as a new idea. They take an old idea, rehash it for new market opportunities, and execute brilliantly.

Maybe that’s why engineers make better entrepreneurs than businesspeople. Bright engineers can come up with Thunder Lizard technologies that completely shift consumer behaviour, while businesspeople are stuck trying to find opportunities in existing industries. So either you get good at coming up with something that doesn’t even exist yet or you know the market inside out so you can capitalize on their needs better than the next guy.

Why Dove’s Self-Esteem Campaign is Absolutely Brilliant

I just saw Piper’s “Beauty Pressure” advert again today and realized it’s not just the art direction that’s brilliant. The key to creating a powerful brand is differentiation, and Dove manages to do it with the same bag of tricks.

Most personal care, ahem, cosmetics companies spend millions telling you that you’ll look ugly without their products. They play upon your insecurities. They make you feel like shit. You buy their products to assuage your wounded ego. And they keep on doing it because it’s effective, because it’s the easiest way to fundamentally threaten your identity and change your values.

Dove points out what other personal care companies are doing. They mock you, the cosmetics user, for using the products. They make it look like dependence on cosmetics makes you ugly. They make you feel like shit. You buy their products to assuage your wounded ego. And they do it because it’s the same tried and true formula that has worked since foot binding and corsets.

But Dove gets a fringe benefit no other personal care company enjoys—a socially responsible brand. Dove isn’t just trying to help you look good, it’s trying to help you feel good! No other personal care company could possibly be trying to do that. So Dove stands out as the corporation who is looking out for your daughters when nobody else will, by making you feel like shit about your choice in personal care products.

So much for self-esteem.