Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
113
 www.ideavirus.com
You’re In The Fashion Business!
Without question, the most difficult part of unleashing a manifesto is creating something
that’s virusworthy. And one of the key components of that art is understanding the fashion
moment.
Why do open-toed shoes come and go? Bell-bottoms? Miniskirts?
How is it that every year, multiple clothing designers launch very similar clothes, without
consulting with each other in advance?
Source: Corbis
Why is it that we rarely see people dressed like the two women above? Did these folks wake
up one morning and go out and buy the entire outfit at once, or did it happen gradually?
Why do some Internet businesses (group scheduling, free email, health portals) seem to
appear simultaneously, even though it took them months or years to launch?

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Unleashing the Ideavirus
114
 www.ideavirus.com
The fashion moment occurs when a respected hive member takes a chance and tries out
something new.
One of two things occurs when a hive member shows up with a new “outfit”:
1.
The hive embraces the new. They start wearing a nose ring or get a tatoo or switch from
using a Filofax to using a Palm. When this occurs, the respected member gets MORE
respect, becomes more influential and reinforces his position as a powerful sneezer.
2.
The hive rejects the new. Many times, the person who introduces the new item will be
ignored or ridiculed (this happens more to the less-respected members of the hive, but it
happens to everyone sooner or later). When this happens, the person who tried to
introduce the new fashion loses respect, becomes less influential and is usually less likely
to try again in the near future.
Obviously, respected members are hesitant to lose their positions of influence, hence the
consistency and uniformity among hives.
Some hives are incredibly conservative (go to the Assocation of American Actuaries annual
meeting and you won’t see an awful lot of surprising new innovation), while others are
known for their daring (the trends demonstrated on the New York City nightclub scene
oscillate like the NASDAQ).
Some people—I call them fashion editors—seem to have an innate sense for knowing when a
hive is ready to adopt a new virus. Successful venture capitalists, journalists, chefs, research
and development labs and record label executives are great fashion editors.
Clive Davis at Arista Records was a stellar fashion editor in the music business for
generations. He launched dozens of breakthrough acts... from Aretha Franklin to Whitney
Houston, Carlos Santana to Patti Smith. The only thing they had in common was that they
were just right for their time. A month earlier or a month later and they might never have
succeeded. (Well, maybe Aretha would have succeeded no matter what…)
But no fashion editor is infallible, and if they’re not careful, they fall into one of two traps:

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