Cloud Cuckoo Land

Felix had gone to live in a lotus land of his imagination. Where what is desired is dreamed of as already happened, where obstacles dissolve under the weight of desire, and where reality has vanished entirely.

― Iain Pears

President Trump's grip on reality is so slim, you might say he lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land, the creation of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes.

In Aristophanes' "The Birds," a character named Pisthetaerus incites the world's birds to challenge the Olympian gods. He persuades them to build a city-in-the-sky that blocks the gods' view of Earth, denying them dominion over men. Pisthetaerus names the great city Cloud Cuckoo Land.

For his brilliance, at the end of the play Pisthetaerus is made king of the Olympians, exceeding even Zeus in power.

Since Aristophanes' time, the name is used to denote any idealistic Neverland.

Torment Tuesday

Call me a curmudgeon, but I've grown to loathe social media marketers who use weekday hashtags.

You know who you are.

Week upon week, you insist on reminding me it's:

• Motivation Monday
• Transformation Tuesday
• Win Wednesday
• Thankful Thursday
• Fearless Friday
• Social Saturday
• Fun Day Sunday

Your vapid diurnal emissions make every day feel like Munch Monday.

The word curmudgeon, by the way, originated in the 1500s; but its source is unknown.

According to Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, the word is a corruption of the French coeur méchant, meaning "evil heart."

But according to other dictionaries, it's a mashup of the English cur, meaning "mutt," and the Gaelic muigean, meaning "grouch."

The Slippery Slope

You prohibit tradeshow attendance.

You cancel the newspapers.

You fire the agency.

You outsource customer service.

You automate marketing.

You discount.

You rush it out.

You praise only the rock stars.

You let everyone over 50 go.

You delete the phone numbers on your website.

You cancel the Christmas party.

You sublet to a multi-marketing firm.

You close your office door.

You never ask why.

You initiate Chapter 7.

Our Customers? Who Cares?

On CEIR's blog, adman Gary Slack laments the tradeshow industry's thundering indifference to customers—an indifference, alas, I can vouch for.

"More than any other B2B medium or sales channel, the exhibition industry—meaning trade show producers, contractors, CVBs—is remarkably unconnected with senior B2B marketing leadership, the people who set marketing budgets and make the ultimate decisions on how much gets invested in face-to-face marketing," Slack says.

No matter where or when B2B marketers gather, you can count on the show industry to be a no-show, Slack says.

"Go to any B2B marketing conference and rarely if ever do you hear exhibition industry execs attending, much less speaking or even exhibiting. Yet practically every other recipient of B2B marketing dollars is represented, either in the audience or on the dais or in the exhibit hall, or all three."

This week is bittersweet for me.

It would have seen the inauguration of DARE, a marketing conference I planned with two partners to help bridge the gap between B2B CMOs and the exhibition industry.

We had to cancel the event 120 days out, for lack of sponsors and endorsements by show organizers.

Despite 12 months' effort to reach hundreds of tradeshow industry players, both large and small, only three suppliers—Freeman, Kubik and SpotMe—bought sponsorships before we cancelled DARE; and only one show organizer—NAB Show—endorsed the conference.

DARE sank in the vast sea of indifference to customers.

I'd chalk it up to a severe case of "fat, dumb and happy."

"As long as exhibitions themselves remain so essential to B2B sales success, maybe you don’t have to work as hard trying to grow your slice of the big B2B budget pie," Slack says.

"But by not engaging directly with senior B2B marketers at the events they attend to learn the latest, you are jeopardizing mindshare that some day may be critical to your survival."

There's a melancholic jazz song entitled, "Due to Lack of Interest, Tomorrow Has Been Canceled."

It might be DARE's theme song—or, if things don't change, the tradeshow industry's.

DISCLOSURE: I am the managing editor of CEIR's blog. Please contact me, if you'd like to contribute content.

A Merging State of Mind

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

― John Donne

In Pre-Suasion, psychologist Robert Cialdini describes a seventh principle of persuasion: unity.

When customers come and act together, Cialdini says, they become more likely to buy.

"Co-creating" exemplifies the principle in action.

When a new fast-food restaurant asked prospects to assess its business plan, those asked for "advice," rather than "opinions,” or “expectations,” were more likely to eat at the new restaurant.

The use of the word "advice," in effect, invited prospects to co-create the restaurant. That triggered a gratifying sense of tribal togetherness.

"Companies struggle to get consumers to feel bonded with and therefore loyal to their brands," Cialdini says. "It’s a battle they’ve been winning by inviting current and prospective customers to co-create with them novel or updated products and services, most often by providing the company with information as to desirable features.

"However, within such marketing partnerships, consumer input must be framed as advice to the company, not as opinions about or expectations for the company.

"The differential phrasing might seem minor, but it is critical to achieving the company’s unitization goal. Providing advice puts a person in a merging state of mind, which stimulates a linking of one’s own identity with another party’s. Providing an opinion or expectation, on the other hand, puts a person in an introspective state of mind, which involves focusing on oneself. These only slightly different forms of consumer feedback—and the nonetheless vitally different merging-versus-separating mind-sets they produce—can have a significant impact on consumer engagement with a brand.”