In the early part of the 20th century, three industries – mass manufacturing, mass distribution, and mass communications – completely reshaped consumer behavior. The transition from artisanal goods to modern mass production is the stuff of legend. I remember being awestruck when I toured a Coca-Cola bottling plant with my sixth-grade class. The manager was very proud of the fact that the company could produce tens of thousands of identical-looking, identical-tasting bottles of Coke per day. In practice, every mass-manufacturing facility evolved into a marvel of logistics and productivity. The value creation was immense.

The Mass Market’s Dark Secret

As amazing (and profitable) as this was, there were some significant compromises made. By definition, every product designed for mass distribution had to be desired and purchased by the largest possible number of people. I am stating the obvious, but follow the logic. If you’re going to produce about two million cases of widgets every day, people had better buy about two million cases of your widgets every day.

The way this is accomplished may surprise you. The “best” products do not necessarily become the most popular. In fact, they rarely do. The product that appeals to the largest possible number of people (the least common denominator) is almost always the winner. In the TV business, seasoned professionals will tell you that the most popular shows are the ones that the least number of viewers turn off. While it’s true that the most popular show will have the highest number of viewers, that is because it is the show least likely to make someone switch the channel.

This subtle semantic difference is not trivial. In order to have the least number of people tune out, you have to offend the lowest number of people (G-Rated), you have to tell stories that everyone can understand (sitcom, procedural police, or hospital drama), you have to use characters that are easily recognizable (protagonist and antagonist), etc. In the end, you take a tried-and-true, mass-market formula, tweak it slightly (and I do mean slightly), and voila! You have a hit. (Quick reality check: Hits are magic! It’s super hard to get all of the components right, but when you do, the criteria stated above are met.)

This is the gospel truth of all mass-market goods and services. There’s always something you wish it did, or want to add, or need to modify (that’s why there are aftermarkets). But you purchased the mass-market product because it was relatively inexpensive and basically good enough for your purposes. If you had some money to burn, there was always a better custom version that was harder to get and cost a bit more. That was then.