Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Kardashians are Geniuses

I never thought I’d ever write a sentence that included the name “Kardashian” in it, much less one that included “Kardashian” and “Genius.”  But there’s a first time for everything.  

A couple of weekends ago, I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine and ended up running into a couple of people I used to work with and see every day, but whom I haven’t seen in probably fifteen years.  I guess after hanging out in a particular intersection for a while, life has a way of leading us down different streets from there.  Anyway, one of the people I ran into is named Ehrich Van Lowe, and he’s a writer/producer.  I remember Ehrich as being one of the most pleasant people I had ever worked with.  Well. Ehrich is still pleasant, and remained so, even as he ripped me a new one!  Through the power of social media, even though Ehrich and I haven’t seen each other in ages, we are facebook friends and he had been following my blog.  If anyone of you regularly follows/followed my blog and knows me personally, you know that my blogging has become a little like some other aspects of my life (dating, traveling, working) – inconsistent!  So, after asking what was up with the six month interval between a particular pair of blogs – a question I really couldn’t answer since in those six months I had managed to work on a TV series, travel to Hawaii, travel to Atlanta, sit through many a Yankee game, drink my weight in beer and watch many a mindless reality show – Ehrich went on to lambaste me (in a nice way, of course) for not being more committed.  And he wasn’t just talking about the writing – marketing and branding were also on his mind.

Ehrich’s now spending a lot of time writing paranormal novel’s for girls and he’s constantly thinking of ways to get put his book on blast – blogging, contests, you name it.  As we spoke about the power of marketing and branding of yourself, I just couldn’t stop thinking about those damned Kardashians.  I really do love to write, it’s everything else associated with it I don’t like – the hustling, the marketing, the networking.  Problem is, that seems to be 60 percent of the job.  If no one knows your name, no one knows your product, and an unknown product dies a quick death.

Now, say what you will about those Kardashians- and I have.  I mean they don’t act, they don’t sing, they don’t write, they don’t excel at a sport, they don’t even always form coherent sentences.   In fact, they seemingly have no discernible talent at all (unless you consider having a big ole boody talent, which some of my guy friends unequivocally do), but yet they’re rich and famous and seemingly everywhere.  And then I thought about it, they actually do have a talent – and a great one at that.  They know how to brand themselves and to keep their name out there, and that might be one of the biggest talents of all. 

I’ve always had this thing where I felt like tooting your own horn was boorish and obnoxious, but I really need to get over this.  The world is moving too fast.  If you don’t toot that horn, no one sees you coming.  And it’s not just a one-time toot; you’ve got to keep your hand on the buzzer.  Attention spans are so short, there’s so much out there to focus on, you’ve got to figure out a way to inundate people with that brand that is “you.”  I’ve got to change my mindset.  Instead of thinking that people are going to think I’m the most egotistical blowhole ever, I’ve got to think, “it’s a sin not to share all this fabulousness with the world.”  

1 comment:

  1. I just read this. Great post. Keep up the good work. And while you're at it, stop by my blog and play my trivia game.

    I did not rip you a new one... Did I? ;-)

    ReplyDelete