FORBIDDEN FRUIT ATTRACTION !

An e-mail service provider like MSN or Yahoo has a big WELCOME message on its home page asking you to register for its e-mail services. The welcome link displays all the benefits of creating an account on their site and makes every possible attempt to ensure that you join their services. Basically they seduce you to create an email account.
Google tried a completely opposite strategy with GMAIL. When GMAIL was launched, it allowed a few initial users to create accounts and then put up a big notice on its website which ran something like this:
‘SORRY….YOU CAN ONLY JOIN GMAIL IF YOU HAVE AN INVITE FROM AN ALREADY EXISTING GMAIL MEMBER’
Potential customers who were willing to create an account found it difficult to register as there was no link available on the home page. The google message created a sense of yearning amongst people. It projected itself something like this :
‘GMAIL is an exclusive domain……it is a privilege to be a part of it….sorry….we don't need you….if you want to join the amazing facilities that we offer……..then you go and beg your friend to send you an invite….if he agrees….only then can you come in..!’
This whole game made ‘entry to gmail’ a very prestigious thing which you could only get if your friends considered you special. And each friend had limited number of invites making the access all the more difficult…..
GOOGLE was showing attitude....because it knew….'people lose interest in something that is easily available….but they crave to get something most difficult/challenging to achieve’
Within a few days the whole concept of GMAIL acquired a CULT status…..friends inviting friends inviting friends and so on….
Across schools, college campuses, coffee table conversations, office desks etc. people were talking about ‘GMAIL INVITES’. Those who got entry thought that had struck gold and started inviting other friends…. (Aah..the joy of inviting somebody...makes you feel as if you are the host and the party belongs to you !)
I call it the ‘FORBIDDEN FRUIT ATTRACTION’ concept…..remember Adam and Eve were attracted to the APPLE in the GARDEN OF EDEN just because they were specifically denied the right to eat it !
Of the hundreds of fruits in the garden of Eden, the one that was forbidden stirred the highest desire…even though they were aware that a punishment was in store if it was consumed !
Initially enrollments were slow but combined with the other services that GMAIL offers, enrollments multiplied massively over a period of time. Within weeks of its launch, MSN and Yahoo were seriously threatened by GMAIL's meteoric rise.
Traditionally marketing students are taught to attract customers by being nice and co-operative....but google played a totally opposite strategy that produced rave results…!
What a powerful idea !