Can creative ideas that don’t solve an unmet customer need, work?

I mean, look at the below:

- The punk sushi is adorable, I’d probably go check it out
- Eating off a waiters face is probably a miss for me, but I’d talk about it
- I’d definitely get my dad the balding post-it notes

None of these solve a functional need, so why are they enticing?

They are solving my emotional and social needs:

“I want to feel entertained”
“I want to break up my everyday routine”
“I want to be seen as adventurous”
“I want to laugh”

The lesson here is that while functional needs are important, often it’s these emotional and social customer needs that are overlooked when trying to create unique products and services (they just may not be your unicorn companies).

We’re human after all, not robots.