Post-Season Potpourri

Cleaning up in many ways

Two unrelated items as we get back into the swing of things after the holiday break...

First, on the off chance that anyone in the audience is involved in the creation of movies or animation, I've got a new tale to pitch. Saint Necassrius, the post-holiday embodiment of putting away all of the trimmings of the holidays, so that your house doesn't turn into that sad place at the end of the block where everything is up for way too long. Won't you sing with me?

Hail good Saint Nescarrius
He cleans up all our crap!
Halfway through his task you just
Might find him taking a nap!
(because he is a middle-aged 
demon who enjoys his naps)
Hail good Saint Nescarrius
He cleans up all our crap!

I'm thinking Walter Wolf, but either with a Krampus horn or elf trappings. Really, it depends on whether you want to scare your kids into helping, otherwise their stuff disappears, or if you are more happy with them clearing out and giving you time and space to yourself. (And yes, my kids get odd holiday traditions, the foremost of which is the Christmas Weasels.)

The second involves finally getting around to taking the better half to her popcorn movie of choice, which is the latest Star Wars installment. I'll defer from getting into any major plot points in this, since that sort of thing is just poor form for those who haven't been yet, and are still planning to go, but I've got complaints. Minor ones, for the most part, and pointless because of the astounding success it's achieving in the market (see, this turns into a business column after all), but to wit...

1) There is, I read, some actual Oscar buzz around this film, because people seemingly feel bad about big money blockbusters never getting critical acclaim. To which I would say... um, why?

You don't go into a sci-fi blockbuster looking for people who are acting up a storm. You go in for explosions, effects, and other feet up, brain in a box stimuli. (And yes, I know, plenty of smart people like to entertain themselves with populating the Star Wars universe with additional content. That doesn't make it Art. If the audience can do better than the creators, in my opinion, that doesn't speak well to the efforts of the professionals.)

2) You might have heard how George Lucas, the maker of the first six of these franchise events, is disappointed with how the latest has turned out, because it feels to him like a retro event, and that the new corporate owners (Disney) have done more work at this with a merchandise and licensing angle, rather than make something new.

It reminds me of nothing so much as an aging rock band that makes the audience suffer through the new album, rather than play the hits. You can do the former, of course, if you are willing to make less money, play smaller venues, and live with lower crowds. Heck, for a true validation of your art, you can do what David Bowie did in the early '90s and not even use your own name on the marquee, just announce it as a different band. That way, everyone who comes knows what they are getting, and you aren't tempted to use the crutch of past hits to get the crowd on your side. You'll live and die with the new tunes.

But that wouldn't single-handedly save Q4 for theaters, or even generate some weird back-hand award talk now, would it?

As a marketing and advertising consultant, I've always known what acts I was doing for love, or art, and which ones I was doing to pay the bills. If you are very lucky, you can sometimes mix the motivations and hit it with your whole heart, and true pros never give away the game of when it's just a mental exercise.

But no one gets to do just what they want to do, all the time, without compromise or commerce.

It's just a shame that Lucas had his moment of discovering this in front of a reporter, really.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

The Best Present

Present and Present

Christmas is a multi-day event for my family. The day before is filled with wrapping, decorations, and making the staging area just right. The day itself is for immediate family, with our group of four exchanging presents. Later in the day, we usually visit local family, with a few more presents to exchange. The next day or so, grandmothers visit, and those gifts are also passed around. It sometimes feels like overkill, but for the most part it works, and everyone gets more or less what they want. (This year, for me? Really good socks and a treadmill. I live a very exciting life.)

However, this year was different, because in addition to taking care of our own needs, we also did something altruistic and deep. I'm not going to get into the details of it, because they are private, but our commitment here was more significant than we usually do, despite coming at the end of a highly challenging year.

What I've discovered from the act was that it has stayed with me, even in small moments and unoccupied times. Where you might find seasonal depression, concerns about crass capitalism, or worries that the kids are being spoiled, now I've got the memory of giving. Instead of obsessing about how we're going to make what we need to make, or just how short the year has been, it's more of a confidence that, well, we did that, and it will come back in time and in measure.

It's kind of like the counter-balance to grief. We had a beloved pet pass away far too soon a while back, and I can make myself feel bad just about any time I care to, just by remembering that day. But now, I can make myself feel good, just by remembering the gift. If you are of a means to do so, I can't recommend the presence of this kind of gift in your life highly enough.

And with that, I'm going to call an end to 2015 posts on the M&AD blog and on LinkedIn, and see you all in a week. It's time to clear out the fitness goals, work on the nooks and crannies of the house that have missed my previous attention, binge on some Netflix (I've finally cracked open "House of Cards", and by heaven, it's great), play video games with the kids and get away from the writing addiction for a little while. We'll be back for the usual 3X weekly schedule in 2016, and as a final gift to you, this: we got through the entire month of December without resorting to a listicle or calendar-driven futures pieces. Of such small moments are holiday miracles, and memories, made.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Selling Fear

Bad things to sell on

Read something interesting today; a year preview for 2016 that was hopeful, but with science. Or, at least, math. Let me explain, and don't worry, there's marketing and advertising later.

The author cited studies that quantified the standard of living in both the richest and poorest areas of the globe, and noted how in the latter, while the standards were (obviously) much lower, they also resembled, well... the standard of living in, say, America in the early 1960s. So the next time you think about sub-Saharan Africa, where the public image is nothing but bloodshed, famine and charitable solicitations, keep in mind that while things are bad there, they certainly are a lot better than what they used to be.

My apologies if this dulls your charitable ardor. Also, America in the early '60s was a lot harder than remembered, especially if you were in the poor parts of it, and a minority. Anyway, you get my point.

A similar story can be told about bloodshed through combat. Per capita, this just used to be much more likely to kill you; now, about 5% of the earlier rate. World poverty, literacy rates, rights for women, what it's like to be a member of the LGBTQ community, the prevalence of functioning democracies -- all on the upswing, all much less awful than they used to be, all good when looked at not through the ebbs and flows of individual news cycles, but decades. Continued progress must be fought for, but even the most cynical among us have to admit that some progress has been made.

So why does everyone seem so convinced that the times are always getting worse? And not just for those that feel threatened about the improvements made for others?

Well, because humans love us some drama, and good times are very bereft of those. We also have unprecedented communications and connectivity, which means that bad news travels and finds every audience. It's also made the world more or less unfiltered, with the best and worst of humanity all just a click away. But the actual numbers? On the upswing.

And that's where we get back to the work. I've worked on any number of ads in my life -- honestly, probably in the four figure range of individual clients -- thanks to several posts that handled big numbers. Sometimes, those clients had unique selling propositions, great offers, a compelling story to tell. Less often but still relatively common, they had none of these things, and sold more on price, or marketing trickery. And when you had none of that, the last and worst thing to sell on? Fear, uncertainty, and doubt. That if you used a competitor, you would be making a mistake, would never enjoy your purchase because it reminded you of that mistake, and that you would eventually be unhappy, or inefficient, or laid low by the whiff.

It's a terrible thing to sell on, frankly. It always felt wrong in my core, never worked for very long, and didn't make me happy, even when the client was pleased. It was the gig, and work sometimes involves things that you have to do anyway, but I was always glad when the project passed, and I could get back to something that fed, rather than drained, my soul.

I have to think that this isn't an unusual reaction, that the pros who do this kind of work all the time are doing damage to their health, both mental and otherwise. And that better choices exist, both professionally and personally.

I'm blessed to have made some really nice choices in my life this holiday season. My greatest wish is that you have the opportunity to do the same. If not now, soon.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.