Shark Attack!
Seth Godin writes about our interesting, quirky sensitivity to certain things. He’s right:
Shark attack is like cancer. The phrase alone gets you to sit up and take notice, to have a sharp intake of breath, to hope that everything is okay.
Cancer kills about as many Americans as heart disease, but we react completely differently to news about a friend or a colleague with one disease or the other. We ostracize smokers but few people are serious enough about heart disease to become vegetarians… very different reactions to similar disease-causing lifestyle choices.
He goes on to explain that people’s perceptions of things often drive their value. “You may have the greatest thing ever,” he continues, “but if it doesn’t match a prevailing worldview in the market where you hope to tell your story, you’re invisible.” Very, very true.
This is why I like person-to-person marketing. This is why I like blogging and reading blogs. Because there’s more of what is and not as much of the “worldview” that Seth writes about. When it comes right down to it–if you really connect to the individual–real communication can happen and we can get on with our lives instead of stare in shock at the latest horrendous, cataclysmic event.
