Selling Blue Elephants: How to Make Great Products That People Want Before They Even Know They Want Them is a book written by Howard Moskowitz and Alex Gofman (Publisher: Wharton School Publishing 2007).
The book outlines a new solution-oriented learning experience co-developed with Prof. Jerry (Yoram) Wind of Wharton School of Business - Rule Developing Experimentation (RDE).
RDE is the systematized process of designing, testing and modifying alternative ideas, packages, products, or services in a disciplined way so that the developer and marketer discover what appeals to the customer, even if the customer can't articulate the need, much less the solution. The book describes best practices in the RDE from some of today's top companies: HP, Prego, Vlasic, MasterCard and others. Filled with real-life stories, this book changes the way people think about selling to their present and future customers.
The book was positively reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, Wharton Connect along with many others. Among distinguished people that endorsed the book are Prof. Stephen Kosslyn (Chair, Department of Psychology, Harvard University), Prof. Lawrence E. Marks (Professor of Epidemiology and Psychology, Director, John B. Pierce Laboratory, Yale University), Prof. Eugene Galanter (Director, Psychophysics Laboratory, Columbia University), Prof. Subrata Sen (Yale University), Prof. Vijay Mahajan (John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business, Marketing Department, The University of Texas at Austin), Iain Bitran (President, The International Society for Professional Innovation Management - ISPIM) and others.
The book is currently under contracts to be translated and published in Germany, Italy, Spain (both full and digest), Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan (Chinese Traditional), China (Chinese Simplified), South Korea, Russia, Netherlands, Lebanon, Romania (both full and digest), Thailand, India, Lithuania and Vietnam.
Famous quotes containing the words selling, blue and/or elephants:
“Whether talking about addiction, taxation [on cigarettes] or education [about smoking], there is always at the center of the conversation an essential conundrum: How come we’re selling this deadly stuff anyway?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I think I noticed once
T’was morning one sole street-lamp still bright-lit,
Which, with a senile grin, like an old dunce,
Vied the blue sky, and tried to rival it....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Amid attempts to protect elephants from ivory poachers and dolphins from tuna nets, the rights of children go remarkably unremarked.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)