Sunday, July 28, 2013

#422 legendary

Many of the ideas for my blog entries first are written down in a Moleskine notebook.  Moleskins are small notebooks, about the size of a half pack of index cards.  They traditionally came in just black, but like everything else, they are now available in a spectrum of colors, page rulings and sizes.  The front page has a space for name and address in case it is lost, plus the amount of reward you are willing to offer for its return.  For me, a book of ideas is priceless.

Moleskins are crazy expensive for their size ($12.95), but worth every cent.  There are numerous knock-offs for a third of the price that look identical from the outside, but, as I have sadly learned from experience, just aren't the same once you write in them.  The "real" notebooks are handmade, and each comes with an identification number in the back pocket (another of its wonderful features).

In that back pocket is also a brief history of the product, letting you know that these notebooks were used by "artists and thinkers over the past two centuries", including Van Gogh, Picasso and Hemingway.  Then they make it relevant in the present, by claiming that Moleskin notebooks provide "an indispensable complement to the new and portable technology of today."

What a brilliant idea to include the story with every product, and then invite the owner to "join the story" at moleskine.com.  It makes owning a Moleskine an experience; well worth the $12.95 to channel into the creativity of the "legendary notebook".

What can your organization do to set a context and connect your product or service with the past, present and future?  How can you help the client see where they fit in to the on-going experience of what you're about?  How do you use your space to share a story, instead of just product features?

Maybe you can use your Moleskine to capture ideas on how to do just that.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

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