The 20-Year-Old Book That Predicted the Future of Marketing

Seth Godin's Purple Cow still revolutionizes marketing thinking after 20 years. Learn why being remarkable beats being perfect.

Hey marketer! 👋🏻

Last week, my neighbor asked if I could lend her daughter some marketing books. She’s writing a paper and wants to understand how marketing actually works. As I browsed through my library, I wondered what to give a seventeen-year-old. Philip Kotler? Sure, but that’s a thick tome packed with theory that would make her head spin. She needs something more readable. Then Seth Godin’s Purple Cow fell into my hands. Bingo! 💜

Why This Book?

It’s essentially a manifesto for anyone who wants to stand out in an age oversaturated with advertising. And most importantly - it’s written so that even someone who’s never heard of marketing can understand it. No complex terms, no charts, just the pure essence of what marketing is really about.

What’s This Cow About?

Picture yourself driving through the countryside. You pass pastures full of cows. Brown ones, black and white ones, more brown ones... After a while, you stop noticing them. But what if there was a purple one among them? You’d never forget that one, would you? You’d tell all your friends about it. Take photos. Share it on Instagram.

And that’s exactly what Godin’s book is about. In marketing (and business in general), you’re either remarkable or invisible. There’s no middle ground.

Seth Godin argues that traditional marketing built on the famous “4Ps” (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) is no longer enough. You need a fifth P - Purple Cow. Something so exceptional that people will talk about it on their own.

5 Ideas That Will Change How You See Marketing

1. Average = Death

How many ads did you see yesterday? Dozens? Hundreds? And how many do you remember? See, that’s the point. Today’s world is so oversaturated with information that average things simply disappear in the noise. It’s like shouting in a football stadium - nobody will hear you.

Godin puts it clearly: “Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting.”

2. Not Taking Risks Is Riskier Than Taking Risks

This might be the most important lesson from the entire book. Many entrepreneurs are afraid to do something bold. What if people don’t like it? What if they criticize it? But Godin warns: “Playing it safe is now riskier than taking risks.”

You know what’s worse than criticism? Indifference. When nobody criticizes you, you’re probably doing something so boring that nobody even notices.

3. Purple Cow Isn’t a Marketing Trick

This is where many people get it wrong. They think a clever ad or witty slogan is enough. But the purple cow isn’t a sticker you add to a finished product. It’s the DNA of the product itself.

Take Amazon Fresh, for example. Their purple cow isn’t having a nice website or funny ads. It’s delivering groceries in under 2 hours. That’s something people talk about. “Hey, I ordered at 10 AM and was cooking lunch with fresh ingredients by 11:30!”

4. Don’t Try to Please Everyone

“Compromise means smoothing out the edges to please everyone. But it’s precisely those edges that often make things exceptional,” writes Godin.

Instead of trying to reach everyone, focus on a small group of people who will love you. They’ll become your ambassadors. They’ll talk about you, recommend you, defend you. It’s better to have 100 passionate fans than 10,000 people who couldn’t care less.

Look at TED Talks - not everyone’s cup of tea, some consider them elitist. But their audience is passionate about them and keeps coming back every year.

5. You’re Selling a Story, Not a Product

People don’t buy things. They buy feelings, stories, identity. Godin describes it beautifully: “The user experience and the story play a crucial role.”

Remember Apple? “Think Different” isn’t just a slogan. It’s a story about a company that challenges the status quo. About a company that believes in creativity. About a company where even a college dropout can change the world. That’s not marketing - that’s a legend.

How to Apply This in Practice?

Alright, now you know what the cow is about. But how do you apply it? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What’s so interesting about my product/service that people would talk about it over drinks? If nothing, you have a problem. You need to find or create something remarkable. Find a different angle.

If my product disappeared, would anyone miss it? If not, you’re replaceable. And that’s bad.

Am I afraid of criticism? If yes, you’re probably doing something too safe.

Am I trying to please everyone? Then you won’t properly please anyone.

International Purple Cows That Made It

• Spotify - unlimited music streaming when everyone was still buying CDs

• Airbnb - stay in strangers’ homes when hotels seemed like the only option

• Tesla - electric cars that are actually cool and desirable

• Dollar Shave Club - quality razors delivered monthly for a dollar

• Duolingo - made language learning feel like a game

Notice that none of these companies succeeded by doing the same thing as others, just slightly better. Each came with something fundamentally different.

Why Is This Book Still Relevant?

Purple Cow was published over 20 years ago. In the digital age, where technologies become obsolete in months, that’s an eternity. Yet this book is perhaps more important than ever.

In 2025, we live in an era of absolute content overload. Every second, thousands of videos, articles, and podcasts are created. Algorithms decide what you see and what you don’t. AI generates content faster than you can consume it. And in this chaos, Godin’s advice applies doubly - be a purple cow, or you’ll have a really hard time.

What’s Next?

If this topic grabbed you and you want to go deeper into brand building, check out “Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller. It’s like an advanced textbook (comprehensively thorough) for those who want to honestly build brands that will survive generations.

But start with Purple Cow. It’s a book you’ll read in an afternoon, but it will stay in your head for years.

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Hope you enjoyed this dive into timeless marketing wisdom! See you in the next article.

Jan Barborik

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