This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Crossing the local chasm
The good news is that you don’t need to set out to cross a global chasm. A
local one can change everything.
The local elementary school is a fine example. One kid brings in a yo-yo
on Monday. But he’s the wrong kid on the wrong day.
A few weeks later, a charismatic fifth-grader brings in her yo-yo,
announcing that she’s starting the Yo-yo Union, an exclusive club that’s
open to all. She’s pretty good at tricks, but not so good that she’s
intimidating. And she brings three more yo-yos with her, for her friends.
Pretty soon, the four of them are out on the playground, walking dogs
and sleeping. She’s chosen wisely—each of these early adopters is a leader
in her own right. A week later, there are thirty kids with yo-yos on the

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playground. The cost of entry is low, the payoff is quick, and the connection
feels real.
A week later, it seems like the whole school is doing it.
Because yo-yos are a fad, without stickiness, they cool off as fast as they
spread. Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way if you build in identity and
persistence.
The same crossing happened with Uggs, with black backpacks, with
penny skateboards.
We only notice the ones that cross a local chasm, but the early adopters
are always experimenting around the edges. It’s when the combination of
adoption and network effects creates enough tension for the idea to cross
the local chasm that we notice it.
Clean water in a local village
For the lucky and privileged, clean water is a given. We’ve never known
any other form of water.
For a billion people around the world, though, the norm is dirty water,
infested with parasites. Often requiring a walk of several hours to fetch, this
water is essential for life, but it also makes people sick.
Consider the case of Water Health International. When WHI arrives in a
village with its water purification kiosk, a few residents immediately
understand the possibility for impact. They buy a special Jerry can from
WHI and then pay to have it refilled every day. The few pennies spent on
clean water are quickly earned back in time saved, increased productivity,
and reduced medical expense.
And yet, not everyone buys the water right away. Most people don’t. In
fact, it follows precisely the same adoption curve as just about everything
else, from toys to computers. The early adopters buy it first. They may be
educated enough to realize how powerful an input clean water is, but it’s
more likely that they simply like buying things that are new.
Not only are these early adopters eager to go first, but they’re eager to
talk about their experience. The brightly colored water jugs that WHI
requires (so they know that they’re not refilling an infected vessel) are a
badge of honor and an invitation to converse. But still, the early days are

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always fairly slow. Changing a multigenerational habit that’s as close to
survival as water is does not happen right away.
Still, the early adopters won’t stop talking about it. It’s not a fad; fresh
water is needed daily, forever. And water is an easy thing to share and talk
about.
To further the local shift, WHI sends representatives to the local school.
Outfitted with a microscope projector, the rep works with the teacher and
has each student bring in some water samples from their home.
Projecting the samples on the wall, the microscope tells a vivid story that
resonates with the eight-year-olds in the class. This is what germs look like.
This is what parasites look like. Inevitably, the students go home and tell
their parents.
And now status kicks in.
When your young child talks about his neighbors having clean water . . .
and you don’t. When you see the respected members of the village
hierarchy carrying the distinctive Jerry cans. When you hesitate to host
someone in your home because you don’t have clean water to offer them.
This is a ratchet, but not one based on obvious software network effects.
It’s based on the original network effect, the one built around people in
proximity. As more and more people in the village get clean water, those
without become socially isolated and feel stupid as well. Most can afford
the water (because of the time and impact savings), but the emotional shift
is the difficult part.
Within months, the water has crossed the local chasm from the early
adopters to the rest of the village.