Chinese Cormorant Fishing and using business weaknesses to your advantage
Friday, September 24th, 2010For over 1300 years fishermen in China, Japan, and other places around the world have traded in their nets and poles in favor of birds. That’s right, birds.
The ancient technique of Cormorant Fishing puts the skills of these glossy black avians to good use and over the years has provided fishermen with food for their families and a means to make a living, not to mention offering a unique and compelling tourist attraction.
While visiting Guilin Province in China a few years ago, I had the opportunity to take a trip down the Li River, surrounded by the towering limestone Karst landscape, and watch a demonstration of this intriguing fishing method.
Each fisherman fishes with his own small set of trained Cormorant birds, who are something akin to pets and are passed down from generation to generation. Every night at dusk the fishermen load their birds onto a flat-bottomed boat and float down the river. The birds jump into the water and get to work, catching the fish that are attracted to the boat’s light. Each bird is fitted with a small collar, which prevents the birds from swallowing any fish that they catch whole. Over the course of a few hours the fishermen pull the birds back to the boat one-by-one, slipping the fish out of their mouths and returning the birds to the water. When enough fish have been caught, all of the collars are removed and the birds are allowed to eat their fill.
Apply this concept to business and the old adage, “If you can’t beat them, join them” may come to mind. Ancient fishermen recognized that they had an unlikely competitor in the fishing business and capitalized on the expertise of these animals by joining forces with them.
Coors Brewing Company (now MillerCoors) took this concept to heart in the late 1970’s when Coors Light was first introduced in the U.S. market. The beer became popularly known as “The Silver Bullet” due to the taller, narrower silver packaging. Coors knew a good thing when they saw it and rather than fighting a rather violent nickname referencing firearms, they embraced it. The Brand’s marketing references this consumer-generated nickname to this day in its Silver Bullet Train imagery and NFL Silver Tickets promotion.
As we look at our own business landscape, including our competitors, consumers and other stakeholders, what perceived weaknesses can we learn from or take advantage of?
Image sources: David Newbegin and Coors Light
