Somewhere between Christmas and New Years this year I was served up an ad in the sidebar of YouTube (I think) for Masterclass. It was promoting Annie Liebovitz and her online class on Photography. As I arrived on the site, three things hit me:
- She was actually going to teach what she knew about photography – she’s a master!
- She was doing it in a way that was affordable and accessible
- She was keeping the company of a large number of experts in their respective fields – Jane Goodhall, Martin Scorcese, Bob Woodward, Serena Williams, Gary Kasparov, Steve Martin, Herbie Hancock, Ron Howard, Frank Gehry – people who had likely put in their 10,000 hours to become masters.
That evening I watched at least 10 previews. And before the end of the night, they had my $200. Easy shopping. Immense value. Really interesting content. Great purchase.
How can your digital business learn from Masterclass? How did they take something that television could have produced, but has ruined via its constant need for exaggeration, competitions, and conflicts. What Masterclass has done is masterful in product quality, product packaging, positioning and price.