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Chapter 7 continued...

WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IT?

Going against the All-American hamburger might be considered flat out foolish.

Spending $1.5 million on a single commercial might have seemed foolish and stupid.

Tripling the ad budget to $12 million could have been called foolish, stupid, and crazy.

But GardenBurger didn't see it that way. GardenBurger saw a once-in-a-lifetime outrageous marketing opportunity. GardenBurger saw the Horse of Opportunity flying its way.

Would you have done what GardenBurger did? Maybe. But probably not. After all, tens of thousands of companies GardenBurger's size or bigger didn't even think of latching onto Seinfeld. Some of them might have considered Seinfeld a great marketing opportunity, but you can be sure the words "outrageous," "foolish," "stupid," and "crazy" entered their minds — or were uttered by naysayers. In other words, "risky."

Let's examine the risks GardenBurger actually took. What if the ratings for Seinfeld had bombed? Unlikely, but weird things happen. What if, after all the hoopla, the commercial had not even aired? A technician hits the wrong button and the commercial never goes on the air; the president interrupts the broadcast to announce his surprise resignation; Jerry Seinfeld is arrested for knocking off a 7-11 and the show is canceled.

It almost doesn't make any difference.

By the time that commercial aired (or didn't air) on Seinfeld, GardenBurger had sold record volumes of its product to supermarkets, specialty stores, and restaurants and had gotten millions of dollars of free publicity. In essence, the Big Bang occurred before the final Seinfeld hit the airwaves.

The lone commercial on Seinfeld didn't, by itself, inspire consumers to rush out and buy GardenBurgers. This spot was mostly a marketing prop to dramatically expand distribution. It was the 1,500 other commercials, along with the national trend toward low-cholesterol foods, that helped persuade more consumers to try the product. And since GardenBurger knew most people who tried it would like the taste, where was the risk in marketing outrageously?

The greatest risk would have been not taking the Seinfeld risk at all. GardenBurger was a sleepy little company, occasionally having a profitable quarter, more often not. To have consistent growth and profitability, it needed to get into the mainstream of food products, not just the niche reserved for vegetarians.

So I come back to the question: Would you have done what GardenBurger did?

You'll have the opportunity, you know. No, it won't be a Seinfeld special. But somewhere, sometime, you'll find yourself looking the Horse of Opportunity straight in the eye. It will come in fast, and, unfortunately, you won't have time to take a test drive. It's go for it — grab the wings and hoist yourself up — or sit there and watch a great and rare opportunity fly by. There's no consolation in waving to it as it gallops by.

1. (Fill in the blank) Have you seen the Horse of Opportunity before and not jumped on? If so, what was the opportunity?

2. (Fill in the blank) When you missed that opportunity, what results did you not get?

3. (True/False) I'm going to be looking for the Horse of Opportunity in the future.

4. (True/False/Don?t know) I'm going to jump on that Horse of Opportunity the next time I see it and let it take me for a wild and wonderful ride.

1. Don't be embarrassed to write about a missed opportunity. Heck, I've thought about writing a book about people who didn't even see the Horse of Opportunity coming, but there would be so many examples I wouldn't know where to start. For instance:
   
   Two young guys started a pizza kitchen near the University of Michigan. They couldn't afford a space big enough for a sit-down restaurant, so they used their beat-up Volkswagen to deliver pizzas to the dorms.
   
   The business didn't prosper, so the two partners sat down to discuss the situation. They decided the business would never support them both. One partner said, "I'll leave and give you my 50 percent of the business. But I want the Beetle."
   
   Tom Monaghan, the other partner, saw the Horse of Opportunity. He agreed to the deal.
   
   Monaghan went on to build Domino's Pizza, which practically invented the home-delivery pizza business. He accumulated a net worth of over $1 billion; the other partner got the beat-up VW.
   
   So don't feel bad about missing the Horse of Opportunity. Just knowing that you missed it makes you more likely to see it coming next time.
   
   
2. Sure, this may seem cruel, making you quantify what you missed. It's like asking Tom Monaghan's partner to write "$1,000,000,000" in that space. But do it anyway. Quantify it. You're training yourself to see the Horse of Opportunity the next time it comes flying into view.
   
   
3. If you answered the first two questions of this simple test, your answer to this question will be True, whether you marked that answer or not. Why? Because you will be looking, at least subconsciously, for that Horse of Opportunity.
   
   
4. I'm not sure how you answered this, but I hope the answer wasn't False. If you answered True or I Don't Know, then at least you're aware that the Horse of Opportunity is out there. The Horse will come toward you, and as it approaches, you'll have to decide quickly whether or not to jump on. If you answered True or Don't Know, I believe you'll ride.

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