LIFE IS MARKETING - Brittlestar’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue #26
I spent the afternoon and evening on my back deck yesterday and I regret nothing.
LIFE IS MARKETING
I make banana bread.
It is one of few culinary activities I partake in. I use a simple recipe. It’s super basic banana bread. Though I like to think of its simplicity as intentional and would be described by Gordon Ramsay as “beautiful… you’ve let the bananas really shine through.”
Shannon, my long suffering wife, shudders a little every time I make banana bread… because I won’t shut up about how great it is.
But there is method to my banana bread boasting.
It makes sure everyone in the house knows I made it. Both I MADE IT and also, it got made.
I’ve toned down my baking braggadocio of late because I may have taken it to an extreme but I stand by the underlying logic.
When I was in university at Queens in Kingston (before they kicked me out) I took a political science class. I remember the professor telling us about former Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. A dude with many faults that also spoke to his dead mother’s spirit via his dog.
The professor went on to speak about how people at the time he was in power would marvel at the things he got done. He seemed to constantly be telling the press about whatever he had just accomplished or even just initiated.
The thing was, he wasn’t really doing anything more than his predecessor. He was just making sure everyone knew he was doing stuff.
Working in social media for the past nine years has taught me that life is marketing.
Not in a crass and transactional way…
…
…
actually, yes, in that way too, but that’s not the only way.
If no one knows about something, no one knows about it.
People are swamped in notifications, chatter, news, bills, family, life. Very few of us have the leisure time to ‘discover’ things (though that should be a bigger priority). We’re pretty much all treading water.
Of course, this cuts two ways. Make sure you’re not taking someone’s efforts for granted, but also… if you want people to know you’ve done something, you need to let them know you’ve done something.
I made banana bread yesterday. It’s delicious.
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Famous banana bread baker meets fan. Tells him he made banana bread.
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Did you know I've started a podcast?
It’s a weekly podcast that takes a satirical look at the news and events in Canada and the world. Featuring me and some fun guests.
It’s the length of a coffee and delicious piece of banana bread. You can listen and subscribe for free anywhere you get podcasts and also here: CanadaLastWeek.ca
#32 on the Comedy Podcast charts this week, you know.