I joined a few friends last Friday for a late happy hour and somewhere between talking about social media and porn (I can’t wait for the BlogWorld session) and our favorite local restaurant, I made a comment about wanting to fix the lottery. For those who know me, the fact that I brought this up probably doesn’t surprise you. But I have a good reason about why I want to fix the lottery.
Ok, so far there aren’t any unmarked black sedans surrounding my house. I think it’s safe to divulge my genius plan.
To be fair, the reason I brought up fixing the lottery was because our conversation had turned to business ventures outside of the PR space. We all have one of those dreams of “if money wasn’t an issue, I’d do X.” So in spirit of thinking of “get rich quick” schemes (the only true way to get rich quick is to find your passion work your ass off), I mentioned that no one ever talks about fixing the lottery. We hear and see people robbing banks, we attempt to scam one another through ponzi schemes and even go as far as selling drugs. Yet no one ever talks about fixing the lottery. Yes, people have attempted to steal from casinos, but I’m talking straight up rigging the Power Ball. Why is this?
My theory is because we live in a society where we attempt to copy what’s been done. We’re taught to copy success. It makes no sense to reinvent the wheel. This philosophy has carried over into public relations and marketing, and has now become a prevalent theme across the social channels. We seek glory and success, but fail to differentiate ourselves from what’s known.
Clients and co-workers are stuck on trying to create the next “Charlie Bit my Finger.” Now the big talk in the social space is coming up with our own version of the Old Spice campaign. We see something that’s found success and we focus on copying instead of creating our own success. The reason certain things knock the ball out of the park is because it’s unique. It’s not the result of slightly adjusting someone else’s work in attempt to make it fit your brand.
I know a lot of you will argue that copying and imitating has been around for ages. I know this, but business and the way we operate has changed. We’ll always have people and brands willing and wanting to rip someone else’s work off. Tomorrow, in conference rooms across America, there’ll be discussions of “how can we duplicate their success.” That’s fine. I’ll let those brands and people take the easy route. But me, I’m going to fix the lottery. Why? Because no one else is.
