I stumbled onto this gem of a poster from The Donut Project and felt an instant kinship with the message.
As I read it, all I wanted to do was kick over my desk, throw my coffee against the wall, and scream “fuck, there isn’t a fucking obstacle I can’t fucking overcome, not a problem I can’t solve!” … But unfortunately, I didn’t.
The coffee here is delicious and the desk, well, it’s pretty heavy. So… I’ll just save all that raw emotion for later when I’m at the gym.
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I read an article about the Vancouver riot a few days ago. Random violence and looting are lame, but I did find this photograph very intriguing. It shows a young couple lying in the street and locked in a kiss as chaos erupts around them, completely oblivious to the stampeding crowds and baton wielding police.
I was most impressed by how this photo went completely viral on twitter. And whilst most of my female friends gushed about the romantic imagery – the sweet undertones of “make love, not war” – I saw an opportunity for product placement.
Wouldn’t it be great if a company could capitalize on this as a bit of viral marketing. By the time someone sees this type of photo, it’s already been qualified as a source of viral traffic. A little bit of tweaking, and you might just find yourself with the right opportunity to increase brand awareness.
I haven’t seen any companies do this yet, so I went ahead and took the liberty myself.
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As the owner of a small internet business, I’m constantly looking to improve my sales process. I’ll come up with an idea, and test it on an audience. I’ll use whatever resources I have available. This usually means testing on my friends. A few months ago, I became curious about how effective sales tactics were in manipulating consumer behavior.
And I’m using the word “sales” here very broadly. On a basic level I believe “sales” simply describes convincing someone to take action. It could be convincing someone to opt into your newsletter or convincing someone to exchange money for a product.
Rather than sell a boring product, I arbitrarily decided to try convincing people to do something different – like grow out a mustache.
Due to genetic circumstances, I don’t have that much facial hair due; however, I’ve always admired a manly stache. Just look at a picture of Burt Reynolds and you’ll understand why.
At the same time I had some pretty lofty ambitions. I mean… what if my sales tactics really caught on… wouldn’t it be great if I could start a global movement – maybe even inspire a mustache revolution.
I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to realize two goals at once.
Case study – How I used sales tactics to convince my friends to grow out a mustache
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