Spoiling the Surprise

Ted Landau has written a great article in The Mac Observer about Apple's rumor sites and about movie trailers. It captures a big issue - the issue of positive surprise. Landau says that rumor sites and trailers steal the thunder of the actual experience and news and create an artificially high level of expectations. I agree.

In order to build value, we have to create positive surprise. Without positive surprise, companies are only delivering what is expected - and customers don't value what is expected, regardless of its performance or utility.

A good example of this is Disneyland. The first time you visit Disney - the experience is filled with positive surprises. However, by the time you visit Tomorrowland, there is no positive surprise. As a result, value may actually decline because what originally was a surprise is now tired and predictable.