An April Fools Fable

Once upon a time, in a land not too far from your own was a Company. This company made Flurbigs, a product that was used by many people in the land. They had made Flurbigs for years and years, and everyone respected them for their high quality and consistency of performance.

One day, another company came into town. They began to make Sturbigs, which to the people of the land looked a lot like Flurbligs except that they were cheaper and came in more colors. It wasn't long before most people were switching from their Flurbig to a Sturbig.

The owner of the Flurbig Company pulled together his wisest people and challenged them to come up with a new product that would make them reign supreme once again. He even gave them a head start by providing them with some ideas that he already had for the new product. The newly formed team sat in a room and brainstormed ways they could take his ideas and combine them with their own to make a better Flurbig. They worked on the premise that there are no bad ideas, so the sky was the limit for this team. After days of collaboration they were ready to bring forth their new & improved Flurbig. It had not one, but two more speeds than the Sturbig. It weighed 5% less and came in three new colors! And, most importantly, they pulled out all of their creative stops and actually added a cupholder!!!

The owner knew that they couldn't go to market without first testing the market acceptance. So they gathered their friends and family and invited them into the office where they could get some impartial feedback. Before long they had concrete answers to such questions as, "Wouldn't you rather have a product with 2 more speeds?" and "If you could choose between a product with a cupholder and without, which would you choose?".

Much to their surprise, not only did they get clear direction for this product, but the people they brought in had numerous ideas for bold new products in the future. Based on their findings, they were ready to not only launch the new Flurbig II, but now had a pipeline full of great ideas to grow the company moving forward.

Having spent all of their product launch money on research, they were forced to quietly place the product on retail shelves. They couldn't really advertise, or do any type of promotional work. They did however make sure that every new feature was called out in bold print on each side of the package. Because of their breakthrough new design, they decided to charge 20% more than the Sturbig did.

When the people of the land saw the Flurbig II at the store, they immediately saw the superiority of this bold new product and bought up everyone that was available.

The Sturbig company knew they had been outdone, and realized they had no further reason to exist in this land. They quietly packed up their plant, and moved to a far away place, never to be seen again.

Everyone in the land celebrated. There was dancing in the streets. The future was brighter than ever before. And the Company and the people of the land lived happily ever after.

So, you tell me... silly fable? or scary reality of many companies' strategies?