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5 Things SpongeBob SquarePants Can Teach You About Business
America's favorite cartoon sea sponge and the rest of the gang from Bikini Bottom offer some surprisingly valuable lessons about life in the workplace.
Posted 10/ 7 10 at 10:00 PM | Business Trends, Money, Advertising & Marketing, Sales, Management, Leadership, Consumer Products & Services, Education, Food & Beverage, Media, Retail
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Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, with its brightly hued colors and juvenile hijinks, may seem like the last place you should look for business or career advice. But if you take a slightly closer look at SpongeBob's madcap energy and Mr. Krabs' relentless pursuit to sell Krabby Patties, you'll notice some familiar workplace scenarios -- and some surprisingly important lessons.So what can you learn from the gang from the underwater city of Bikini Bottom? We decided to take a closer look.
1. SpongeBob SquarePants has integrity that every entrepreneur and employee should emulate.
When Mr. Krabs, in one episode titled "The Graveyard Shift," tells his staff that the Krusty Krab will now be open 24 hours a day, SpongeBob is thrilled. In the episode "Just One Bite," when Squidward sneaks into the Krusty Krab in the middle of the night to secretly eat some Krabby Patties, he spots the famed sea sponge and asks why he is there. "I always come here at 3 a.m.," SpongeBob replies. "This is when I count the sesame seeds."
Lisa J. Rinkus, president of LJPR, a West Newton, Mass.-based public-relations firm, says one of her favorite pastimes is hanging out with her daughter after school and watching SpongeBob SquarePants. "During the shows," Rinkus says, "we chat about SpongeBob's incredible work ethic, his ability to work with what he has and make the best of every situation. I can't understand why many parents don't let their kids watch SpongeBob. It's chock full of great lessons -- business and otherwise."
2. Don't stray from your core competency.
In "The Krusty Sponge," a restaurant critic applauds SpongeBob as one of two reasons to visit the Krusty Krab (the Krabby Patty being the first reason). Mr. Krabs is deliriously excited by the idea of promoting SpongeBob as another reason to visit his restaurant. So excited, in fact, that he goes overboard, changing the name of the restaurant to the Krusty Sponge and making perennially disgruntled employee Squidward wear a SpongeBob costume. SpongeBob, meanwhile, is made to run a SpongeBob train outside the restaurant. In effect, the restaurant's main reason for being -- the food -- is ignored. And just as one might expect to happen in real life, customers then become sick after eating the food.
Another example of this is "the episode when Pearl, Mr. Krab's daughter, wants to change the menu and marketing strategy of the Krusty Krab" to be trendier, says Anu V. Murthy, avowed SpongeBob fan and president of Rex, a full-service wholesale intermediary offering agencies access to worker's compensation markets nationwide. "SpongeBob felt absolutely uncomfortable with it because it strayed from the 'core' strategy."
As it turns out, Pearl ended up leaving the restaurant, which returned to normal. "Lesson? Stick to your knitting," Murthy says.
3. Quality counts.
In the episode, "Born Again Krabs," Mr. Krabs forces SpongeBob to sell an old, filthy, germ-infested Krabby Patty that was found under the grill. Mr. Krabs can't stand the idea that this patty, which could have been used to make money, would be allowed to go to waste. However, weeks go by, and the Krusty Krab loses a lot of business until Mr. Krabs, trying to prove the patty is perfectly good, eats the food and winds up in the hospital.
Then there's the "Patty Hype" episode in which SpongeBob starts his own stand, selling "pretty patties" -- Krabby Patties that are different colors. SpongeBob ended up having approximately 46,853 customers. Unfortunately, the colored patties literally make the fish in Bikini Bottom change different colors.
"SpongeBob comes up with a patty that seems to be, on the surface, what everyone wants," Murthy explains. "It was short-lived because, in the end, everyone was [ticked] off because the patties ended up changing and was not what the customers expected."
The lesson entrepreneurs can take away, Murthy says, is that you should "be sincere in what you are selling. Customers aren't idiots. They will learn quickly what you are all about. Long-term strategy is key for customers."
And, of course, we haven't even mentioned Mr. Krab's arch-enemy, Plankton, who is always trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula. Plankton clearly recognizes that the formula's quality would attract customers, but he's too lazy to come up with anything superior on his own. Instead, his restaurant, the Chum Bucket, is recognized throughout Bikini Bottom for serving inferior, pathetic food.
4. You get what you pay for.
When Mr. Krabs shoots a Krusty Krab TV commercial, he shoots it himself, to bring the production costs down, and he pays for the cheap time slot of 3:28 a.m. Not surprisingly, few fish in Bikini Bottom see it.
In "Krabby Land," Mr. Krabs figures he can make a fortune if he has a playground for kids at his restaurant (shade of McDonald's and their playgrounds). It's a mess, cheaply made and not very safe. By the end of the episode, the children have tied up Mr. Krabs and are feeding him lima beans. If you're cheap in a way that insults your customers, you're the one who will likely lose in the end.
5. Don't let your work take over your life.
Joe Wos, executive director of the ToonSeum, Pittsburgh's Museum of Cartoon Art, notes that "with the exception of Patrick, everyone in the show has very defined jobs, and at least half the show revolves around their jobs, which is something you don't see in a lot of cartoons. They take their jobs very seriously in SpongeBob."
Wos adds that in the episodes where SpongeBob "loses his job or spatula, his life falls apart, and if you think about it, that often defines our own situations as well. When we lose our jobs, our world literally falls apart. I think one of the greatest examples of that is the episode where SpongeBob loses his name tag. Literally and figuratively, it's a complete loss of identity."
True enough, when SpongeBob discovers his name tag is gone, he freaks out until he faints. In this animated moment -- at least it can seem this way after the 27th viewing with your kids -- SpongeBob becomes something apart from a simple cartoon on a children's cable channel. It is a cautionary tale for the 21st century businessperson, a warning to everyone, from the CEO down to the lowliest fry cook, that while it's swell to be at one with your career, you can always take things too far.
Geoff Williams is a frequent contributor to AOL Small Business and is the co-author of the book Living Well with Bad Credit. He is currently trying to convince his editor on the merits of an article that looks at the business lessons one can learn from iCarly.
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Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Why is it that I can so relate to this article? My daughter would be so proud and I don't feel like a bad mother after all! She's learning about being an entrepreneur - who knew?! Great article - thank you! With kindness, Elena
Cheap shot to give a shout-out for a dating service.
my son watchs this so all the time..he always tells me he want to go to the ocean deep in the bottom of the sea and work at the krusty krabs ...my son is spongedbobed out..and my son is only 5 going on 6..at least i know when he gets to that age he would want to work he talks about it now .My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at agegapsing les. c om a nice and free place for younger women and older men, or older women and younger men, to interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.
Nice!
When my son was 4 he begged me to get a Sponge Bob tattoo, Now he is 12 and wants me to cover it up. LOL, I told him it's there for good.
What parent in their right mind would let a 4 year old get a tattoo. Today it seems the kids rule the roost not the parents. If a child begs for something they just get it, even though it is something that you know darn well when they are older they will not want. Not to mention the pain you put him through. Now, when he is older he will have to go through laser surgery to get that stupid cartoon off his arm. My kids could not get a tattoo until they were of legal age to make a decision to want something on their body for life and will shrink as they get older and one day they will be an 80 yr old person with some weird drawing on their bodies that used to say I AM HOT now it will say I M NOT.
My apologies to Max-Joe I thought I read where your son got the tattoo but it was you who he asked to get a spongebob tat. I am sorry about my comment. I kind of think it was sweet of you to do that for him but it is there for life???? So please forgive my comment it is early in the morning????
Very insightful and enjoyable article. Especially for those of us who are friend of the Sponge! (SMILE) Thank you.
Wow, great minds thinking alike! See my dissection of the episode where
SpongeBob and Patrick become entrepreneurs, over at Entrepreneur's Daily Dose blog
I think the best work ethic show and lesson was the Employee Of The Month episode. Spongebob had won every month for years and Squidward says to him "Mr. Krabs only gives you that award so you'll work harder." To which Spongebob replies "No Squidward, he gives me that award BECAUSE I work harder."
Spongebob rules!
I'm 25 and I love this show. It's one of the few kid shows out there that I'd want my kids to watch
I knew SpongeBob was more than just a show. I'm 19 and I've actually learned a lot. In the episode where Patrick decides to go to school with SpongeBob, they get in detention. They argue up until one says, "I'd hate you even if the light keeping Roger alive went out." The light does go out, ultimately forcing them to abandon their differences and work together as a team
Wow, what a concept, using cartoons to teach kids something. That's what's been going on since they fist started making cartoons, remember how Popeye used to get kids to eat their spinach? That's what TV in general used to do until they lost their way.
Awesome. And I'll be the first one in line to read the iCarly article!
I have to agree when I saw SELLING OUT it was a page out of my life and I'm hoping that it ends the same way as the show did
Reading this amusing article really shows what a hard worker Spongebob is. He has a job that he really loves to do with passion. What a pleasant work place it would be to have spongebob at my job. I watch spongebob with my kids everyday because he is entertaining and educational.
I love SpongeBob and I didn't even know I was learning about integrity. I never felt uncomfortable when my grandson watched it. Maybe it will help him make good choices in life!
.eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwbuoy....oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook!
I`ll have a crabby patty deluxe to go please!!!
I started letting my kids watch SBSP about two years ago. I hesitated at first, because some of the stuff they just weren't ready for (brains exploding, spine getting ripped out, etc.) but now they are 8 and 9 and we all watch together. I have taught them also, that there is a greedy character, a lazy/pessimistic character, a village idiot, and an optimist. Sandy is the brains of course and Pearl is the typical teenage girl. Great lessons ARE there in each episode, if you take the opportunity to talk about it with your kids.