"let Olive be Olive"

I've been seeing marketing lessons everywhere.

For instance, you could make the analogy that owl-eyed, untrained, out-of-place Olive in the movie Little Miss Sunshine is like New Marketing, which is about being authentic and transparent. Like Olive, New Marketing is the real deal. New Marketing wins out over Old Marketing in this Age of Choice because it supports the remarkable.

Old Marketing, which used to work in the Age of Scarcity, is about trumping up and tricking out the average. Old Marketing is like Olive's competition in the pageant, the homogenous pseudo-nymphets with their spray-on tans and capped teeth and elaborate talent acts. Old Marketing is about drawing the attention of a crowd and interrupting the more people the better. Because the pseudo-nymphets are all outrageously coiffed, inappropriately dressed and similarly coached, plain Olive is the one who stands out. She's the interruptive one. That's Old Marketing giving way to New.

A teachable moment about the difference between Old Marketing and New comes in the scene where Olive's brother privately beseeches his mom to pull Olive out of the competition before she performs so she won't be humiliated. His mom says they need to "let Olive be Olive." That's New Marketing's philosophy, right there.

Olive's striptease act, choreographed by her recently-deceased, heroin-snorting grandfather, earns the respect of those who are most important to her, her family. If your organization is the type that could support New Marketing, meaning you're starting with something remarkable, not only do you have the potential to be a stand-out but you have the potential to earn the respect of the people who care about you. And the people who care about you are the only ones who matter. If everyone else is incredulous, even outraged, so be it. Let Olive be Olive.

The sound technician and the tattooed biker, the only two people at the pageant besides Olive's family with a shred of sense, are the only ones to break the resounding mock-horrified silence after her act. They are your market. They're the ones you need to set your sights on. New Marketing is about creating stories and spreading them to small groups with similar interests. The stories you create will have limited but more potent appeal. They're honest and real, making you more relatable and memorable. When people used to the ways of Old Marketing wonder what you're doing, you can quote Olive's dad and say kickin' some ass, that's what we're doing.