• Be Remarkable

    Posted on February 22nd, 2012 by and currently 11 commenting.

    A man sat in a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During the rush hour, it was estimated that more than 2,000 people passed him, most on their way to work.

    Three minutes after he started playing, a middle-aged man noticed the musician. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, then hurried on. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip. The woman threw the money in the hat without stopping and continued on her way. A few minutes later, a man leaned against the wall to listen, but then glanced at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

    The person who paid the most attention to the musician was a three year-old boy. His mother was rushing him along, but the child stopped to look at the violinist. So the mother nudged the child forward and the child continued to walk – turning his head back toward the musician along the way. This scenario was repeated by again and again by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced their children to keep walking, hurry up and move on.

    In the 45 minutes the musician played only six people stopped and stayed for a while. About twenty gave him money, but continued walking on. The musician collected $32 in total. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

    The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most renowned musicians in the world. Two days before the subway serenade, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston at a seat price of $100 per ticket. That morning in the subway station, Bell had played one of the most intricate pieces ever written on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

    Joshua Bell’s incognito performance in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. They sought to answer several questions. Mainly, in a  commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour do we perceive beauty? Will we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

    If people do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

    In a busy world, message matters. It is estimated that on any given day we are exposed to 3,500 to 5,000 marketing messages. Is your brand Joshua Bell playing for a sold out crowd? Or are you just a guy in the metro playing a violin?

    In order to thrive YOU MUST BE REMARKABLE. In order to be remarkable, YOU MUST CREATE REMARKABLE EXPERIENCES FOR OTHERS. You must have passion and a point of view. You must elevate people, invite them to the table and empower them to share your story – by making your story their story, too.


  • http://twitter.com/DanHolm Dan Holm

    I think the thing here is that Joshua Bell IS remarkable. He DID create a remarkable experience. And yet, no one seemed to care in this scenario. 

    So is it messaging or is it packaging? 

    Is it being remarkable or having a marketable identity that people can relate with? People don’t care about a stranger on the street playing a million dollar violin. No matter how remarkable he was/is…..it still didn’t make an impact. 

    I’m just playing devil’s advocate. 

    Love,

    Dan

  • http://twitter.com/NoMeatballs Amy

    Dan,

    This is kind of a two-fold lesson, I think. One is that people are busy and frantic and not taking time to enjoy their lives. The other is the remarkable lesson. I think remarkable happens when we find a way to cut through the noise, clutter, 5000 marketing messages a day and inspire people to STOP. LISTEN. AND CARE…deeply. Joshua Bell was the perfect example of someone doing what they do (and doing it amazingly well), but in a world where people are bombarded and busy, just doing what you do isn’t enough. Creating a remarkable experience is more than just showing up. It’s taking an extra step. Finding a way to surprise and delight. Remarkable is active, not passive. It’s not hoping people will show up and care, it’s going to them and inspiring them to care. Remarkable isn’t just about giving people something or providing them with something. It’s about touching their heart by sharing something that inspires them to talk, to care, to remember, to share. 

    I think you can find it in the message and the packaging. But most of all, I think you find it in action. 

  • http://twitter.com/Jamesbedell Jamesbedell

    I think this is a tough example. I’m a huge Joshua Bell fan and yet I’m not surprised that no one noticed him on the metro. It’s about expectations. In the NYC subway, I hear street performers every day. The difference is they don’t have permission. I didn’t ask to hear that music at that moment. 

    So I think it’s not so much being remarkable as sharing your talents with a ready audience. 

  • Jim Coe

    This is story-telling at its peak. If this doesn’t go viral then the interwebz must have broken.

  • http://www.jerichotechnology.com Michael R. Stewart

    Amy, this post and your comment below are quintessentially remarkable.  You have synthesized a world of marketing insight into 500 words, itself a remarkable accomplishment, and I am personally indebted to you. I am going to tweet this to my 72,000 Twitter followers as soon as I finish this comment, knowing that they will appreciate it as much as I did.  Thank you.

  • http://twitter.com/NoMeatballs Amy

    Thank you, Jim! Happy day to you. 

  • http://www.zandenewman.com/ Geoff Coats

    I recall following this story a while back and I’m still fascinated by it. Would I have stopped to listen? Probably not. 

    As someone involved in brand strategy who has also busked on the streets of New Orleans, I am not quite sure what the real take-away is. I can tell you from experience that if Joshua Bell had been playing with a female partner, he would have made more money. Had his partner been dressed in a vaudevillian outfit and dancing, they would have made even more money and more people would have stopped (assuming the dancer was good and good at engaging an audience). To capture people in a busy environment you must reach out to them — give them a reason or an excuse to stop — and not rely on the beauty of your music to magically stop people in their tracks.In a way, the Post’s intent of presenting quiet beauty to see if people noticed stacked the deck. That may argue for your conclusion that “in order to be remarkable, you must create remarkable experiences for others” — after all busking is less about beauty and all about performance. The music being played by Bell was no doubt beautiful. But there was no attempt to create an experience that would engage the busy commuters.

  • Julie

    Ah…perhaps it is all on the packaging after all.

  • Karen

    So many people are remarkable without being recognized all over the world. One person is my husband who invents everyday, but
    always wants to perfect before getting it out there! I had one day to put together a video, to get in a contest to get it on the shelf
    at Walmart.
    Walmart is trying a media blitz by getting inventors, writers, musicians, etc. to enter to get the media attention. Voting started
    today, March 7, 2012. I think this will be effective for them and
    the people who entered.
    Getting creative has been necessary lately, (lost jobs, lost home, etc.)!
    Here is our video if you would like to vote!
      http://www.getontheshelf.com/product/2167/Snap-on-light

    I find it sad people don’t stop and smell the roses (or hear the
    violins!)

  • Karen

    I agree wholeheartedly! Having a large venue and excellent marketing through major media gets the target audiences…but on the other hand, don’t disregard excellent talent shared through friends! Look at movies loved by some and shared!

  • http://twitter.com/akbusybee Andrea Keller

    I just love your blogs!  They are always so thought provoking.  It is also a Fantastic reminder to stop and remind people why they are important.  Sometimes even remarkable people don’t realize it… because no one has stopped to give them a compliment.