Why do people line up for a bar they can't find?

Scene 1 of 169:42 PM

Okay, picture this. It's 9:42 at night, and you just posted the sale you spent all afternoon on.

Nothing. You refresh. Still nothing. And then, bzzzt, a notification!

It's a text about your car's extended warranty.

And then… crickets.

Scene 2 of 16The playbook everyone copied

Maria is an example shop. The playbook is real.

So you do what the courses say. You add a countdown timer, you write "only 3 left!", maybe you even try a secret sale.

But people scroll right past it, because they've seen a million of those, and they just don't believe them anymore.

My friend Maria knows that feeling. She has a cute little candle shop, and last month she tried all of it.

So here's what I told her. Those tricks didn't stop working. You just copied the wrong part.

Scene 3 of 16St. Marks Place and Crif Dogs

There's a bar in New York that almost every marketer has copied, and almost all of them copied it wrong.

Picture a little street called St. Marks Place. You walk down a few steps, under a giant glowing hot dog sign…

…and there's a line. Every single night.

Scene 4 of 16The phone booth

And way in the back corner, there's an old wooden phone booth, just standing there, like it's been waiting for you.

So go ahead. Step inside and pick up the phone.

Scene 5 of 16PDT: the bar called Please Don't Tell

It opened in 2007 with no sign out front, and two years later, it was named the best cocktail bar in the world.

It's called PDT, which stands for "Please Don't Tell." And I bet you can guess what everybody did…

They told everyone they knew.

Scene 6 of 16Why PDT hides behind a phone booth

As the owners tell it, the bar could only share the hot dog shop's liquor license if it didn't have its own door to the street.

Most people would've seen a problem. They looked at it and saw a door.

Scene 7 of 16Everyone copied the wrong lesson

If you've read the book Contagious, you've met this bar. It's the first big story in chapter one.

But the lesson everybody took home was "make it a secret."

Here's the thing that always bugged me. PDT isn't a secret.

And people still line up, year after year. So if the secret's out, why does it still work?

Scene 8 of 16Watch their face

Next time a group walks into that phone booth, look closely. One of them has been there before.

Watch that person. They're not looking at the bar at all. They're looking at their friend's face.

Scene 9 of 16Secrets vs. reveals

A secret is something you know. A reveal is a little magic trick you get to do for someone.

And it's not just bars. In-N-Out has a famous secret menu, and it's printed right on their own website. People still order their burger Animal Style out loud, just to see their friend's face.

Scene 10 of 16The 3-piece word-of-mouth recipe

The Wall. Something keeps people out, and there's a real reason for it. At PDT, it was that license rule.

The Knock. A small, fun thing you do to get in. At PDT, you pick up the phone.

The Reveal. The ta-da, and it's one you get to give somebody else. At PDT, it's the look on your friend's face.

Scene 11 of 16Maria's leftover wax

It was late, and she was pouring a new batch of candles.

When she finished, there was a little puddle of wax left in the pot, like always, and she reached for the trash can.

"Wait," I said. "What if that's your wall?"

Every batch leaves a little bit behind. So she pours the leftovers into their own candles, all swirly and mixed up, and no two are ever the same.

Scene 12 of 16The gold line

Around the bottom of every jar, she paints a thin gold line.

And under the jar, there's a sealed gold sticker.

It just says, "Peel me when you reach the line."

Scene 13 of 16Peel me

A few weeks later, one of her customers is on the couch with a friend, and the candle burns down to the gold line…

"Bring this jar back, with someone who's never been here. They get to pick from the cabinet you can't see."

Scene 14 of 16The cabinet

So that Saturday, the little bell over Maria's door goes ding, and in walks her customer, holding that empty jar like a golden ticket.

Maria opens the cabinet, and the friend gasps. And her customer? She isn't looking at the candles. She's looking at her friend's face.

Sound familiar? That's the phone booth, all over again.

Scene 15 of 16Word-of-mouth ideas for any small business

Most marketing happens before people buy. Maria's happens after, when the customer is home alone with the candle and isn't expecting to hear from her at all.

So find the moment your customer is alone with your thing, and hide a reveal there.

And this works way beyond candles. An online shop can tuck a sealed card in the box. A café can have a secret drink that regulars can order for a friend. A software company can unlock a hidden feature when you invite a teammate. Same three pieces, every time.

• 📦 Online shop: a sealed card in the box
• ☕ Café: a secret drink regulars can order for a friend
• 💻 Software: a hidden feature that unlocks when you invite a teammate
• 🔧 Service pro: a sticker that says "open on the first cold night"

Scene 16 of 16Your piece

Oh, and before you go, I've got something for you.

And hey, if you're a marketer, or a business owner, this is for you. Every Tuesday, I'll take you inside one outlier like this one, and show you the move behind it, so you can use it too. It's free, and it takes about five minutes. Just pop in your email, and I'll save you a seat.

Next Tuesday, I'll show you another outlier, one that broke a rule everybody swore by and won big doing it. Talk soon.