The Nod

Kathy Sierra has another excellent post about how marketers can build product that get “the nod”. That’s when one user recognizes another user or owner of a like product and gives that sly nod letting the other person know of his/her approval. She mentions how MacBook Pro users and Mini Cooper owners often get the nod.

This started me thinking about products I’ve purchased where I got the nod. No question, the Mazda Miata that I drove for barely a year provided a lot of nods although some people hated it and flipped me the bird about as often. I never received the nod for just carrying around my black iPod video. But the minute I put it in a Vaja leather case, I started to receive a lot of nods. When I returned from Germany in 1989 and wore Birkenstocks before they become the craze, I received many nods. Several people gave me the nod when I wore Grado headphones on the train connected to my iPod. My Timbuk2 messenger bag was another item that a lot of people asked me about and was found to be nodworthy.

But without a doubt, the product that’s brought on the most nods is the Xootr scooter I drove around downtown Seattle back in the dot com age. I had the least expensive model with wooden deck. But I couldn’t drive it a few blocks without getting the nod.