Chip and Dan Heath now have a “Made to Stick” column in Fast Company (that’s the title of their book). June’s edition talks about word of mouth marketing and how products can be interesting enough to command a “conversation.” As great as the Ritz Carlton is, they argue, it doesn’t give you anything to talk about—unlike Doubletree, which sparks a conversation because of the warm cookies they give you at check-in. The bud vase in the VW Beetle does the same thing, as does serving glazed doughnuts that have been rolled in Crunchberry cereal.

You have to be distinctive to spark conversation. Being great isn’t enough. And they also point out that you can’t try to create the conversation after the product launch. These things emerge naturally, and you should be thinking about that as you design the product, not after you launch it.

So here’s what bugs me: I think doughnuts rolled in breakfast cereal are gross. I also miss terribly the local doughnut shop that went out of business a few years ago. Their doughnuts were really good. I guess they just weren’t distinctive enough. Is there any room in our economy for really good, but not distinctive? Or, I guess a better question is, how can we be distinctive without sacrificing being really good at something?

Jamie Notter