“There are BUGS and they will bite you on your FACE.” This is an actual one-star review of Sequoia National Park in California.
Last week, David Rendall and I visited the park and were thinking about a story we shared in our new book Pink Goldfish 2.0. We wrote about Amber Share and her Instagram account @subparparks.
Amber takes real one-star reviews from national parks and illustrates them.
For example, she illustrated a one-star review about Sequoia National Park below.
“THERE ARE BUGS AND THEY WILL BITE YOU ON YOUR FACE.”
In the book, we share a review of the Grand Canyon. How could anyone say anything bad about one of the eight natural wonders of the world? But they did . . .
“A HOLE. A VERY, VERY LARGE HOLE.”
Subpar Parks has over 300,000 followers. Here are some of our favorites:
– For Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, “DIDN’T EVEN GET TO TOUCH THE LAVA”
– For Bryce Canyon National Park, “TOO ORANGE, TOO SPIKY”
According to an interview in Midwest Living, Amber created the account as a “snarky love letter” to the National Parks System. In her words, “When I discovered that there were 1-star reviews for every single one of the 62 national parks, I set out to illustrate each park along with a hand-lettered 1-star review as a way to put a positive, fun spin on such a negative mindset.”
Takeaway: Some people (and evidently some National Parks) are A HOLE. If you try to please everyone, you please no one. Why not have a little fun with the haters? Who is in your anti-target market?
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Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.
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