Direct sales figures aren’t as good a means to determine the success of any given thing as is the ecosystem that thing builds around itself. Apple’s iPod is a huge seller but the real story, and the thing that cements its dominance, is that Apple has also fabricated (from thin air) a billion dollar market for iPod accessories.

Google similarly ensured its own dominance of the online mapping service market not simply by making cool software but also by providing easy access to the application programming interface (API), encouraging programmers the world over to create mashups. There are now thousands of applications that take advantage of Google Maps, making the service hugely popular and valuable for Google.

A things popularity can even be determined prior to release – here’s a ridiculous iPhone case, two months early.

This in mind, it was interesting for me to note the ecosystem that sprung up around the movie 300. Maybe I’m not as observant as I think I am but it seems to me that the amount of supplementary/complementary material to 300 exceeds other movies that have come out recently. Silly examples, one funny:

One not:

These two videos are (admittedly anecdotally) part of a wave of information surrounding 300 – news stories, historical analysis, even political dustups. Thus, it came as no surprise to hear of 300’s success. It’s success was assured given the amount of exposure that it received.

So what’s the takeaway point here? Success is not something that can easily be achieved as the result of solitary effort – rather, success comes as the result of the creation of an economic ecosystem around an effort. Just as “no man is an island”, neither should anyone think of their products or services as independent of a greater context.