“I don’t know what it is, but it’s shiny, so it must be good” -18 year old (f) at Starbucks
this was said off the cuff, but may reflect how people value things
shiny things are valued more than unshiny things
that’s why we foil print an invitation or POP to raise its premiumness
shiny things are tactics
relatively easy to do, once you have the cheque book and of course the PO
and then there are shiny things as metaphor
any passing fad, or style or new graphics or video treatment that is popular
anything that’s getting plenty attention
we want
shiny things are tactics
satisfying our insatiable desire for attention
anything will do
virality is the prize we seek
and any shiny thing that delivers the V is the one for me
on the other hand
strategy is hard
it’s messy
it means saying no
it means narrowing whose available to you
it means pissing some people off
it means not being available everywhere or being available everywhere
it means we may have to price higher than the market
it means doing grungy work to find your unique brand purpose
it’s like cleaning an oven that has not seen love for 6 months
the cake, Christmas ham, macaroni pie and chicken wings; all rolled into one grimy mess of gunk
no one likes gunk
so we are always happy to clean mirrors
swish swish, wipe wipe, done
any easy will do
any tactic will do
so, let’s do it fast
let’s do it before, [insert name of competing brand]
but shiny things must be put through a filter
does it fit my brand?
That’s the work.
Strategy before shine.
