My new favorite web site and the easiest way to build a premium brand

Feb 07 2008

Special thanks to my good friend Ryan for turning me on to Springwise.com. For those of you that haven’t experienced this online beacon of entrepreneurial hope, please click through and check it out. This Netherlands-based web site sends its agents out to scour the globe for the most unique and innovative new business ideas. If you’re an idea-junkie like me, once you dig into this site, you won’t be able to leave your chair for hours.

My wife and I got hooked on this site this weekend and scrolled through more than a year’s worth of cool businesses. She found one from last spring that was especially interesting… There was an article about Dashing Diva, the Starbucks of nail salons and possibly the first chain of nail salons in the U.S. Here’s a short excerpt from the Springwise article:

“The United States has approximately 58,000 nail salons, most of which are “mom and pop” stores owned by Vietnamese and Korean immigrants. Claiming to be the first branded nail chain in the United States, Dashing Diva hopes to become the Starbucks of nail salons, creating a strong brand and offering customers an experience that’s different from other nail salons. While most nail places sport a hygienic but basic look, Dashing Diva has invested heavily in design, making it a marketable venue for bridal showers and Sweet Sixteen and birthday parties.”

It’s just another instance where an otherwise “white-bread” type of business has managed to use design as a major part of their unique value proposition. As Starbucks has shown us, design can go a long way towards establishing a premium price point and a memorable experience. How many times did you spend $4 on a cup of coffee before you went to your first Starbucks? Would you have ever considered giving your daughter a party at a nail salon? Probably not unless you have a Dashing Diva in your neighborhood (which is unlikely as there are only about a dozen of them so far).

The truth is that design is one of the cheapest ways to upgrade your brand/product/service. Dashing Diva isn’t really reinventing anything about the manicure process (though they are a subsidiary of an acrylic nail manufacturer)… They’re just putting it in a prettier box.

No one should extend themselves beyond their practical means to redesign their business, but think about the ways that you can easily improve on what you already have. For example, if you have a retail location or office, you COULD just keep your walls white. Or you could spend $20 on a can of paint and do an accent wall in one of your brand’s colors. Everyone needs a logo and business cards… Does it really cost you anything more to get nice ones? If anything, we’re talking a couple of hundred dollars for an upgrade that could ultimately define your entire business.

By the same token we also need to remember that there are costs involved when we ignore design… After all, as the article points out, there are about 58,000 nail salons in America… But so far there’s only one Dashing Diva.