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Giant Spoon making House of Dragons Famous, plus other sources of inspiration | Vol. 48 🐉 🐲
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As a refresher MF/TS is a weekly newsletter focusing on brand marketing, finding the adjacencies in life + team performance, and other things I care about such as running, stoicism, and pinning good ideas to the board. If you have not yet subscribed, join 100+ smart, curious humans by doing so here.
WTF ARE WE DOING THIS WEEK?
The theme of this week’s Move Fast, Think Slow is giving Giant Spoon their flowers for an excellent marketing campaign in New York City! 👏👏 This campaign is a great case study to understand how advertising works, based was written about last week and the week before that. In using Paul Feldwick’s filters, we can see why this effort is worthy of the perfect feedback of NO NOTES!
In addition to that, some Tweets to make you think. I can still call them Tweets, right? Wisdom, a reminder to get out there and move, and inspiration just in time for your weekend fun.
Enjoy!
AD AGENCY GIANT SPOON MAKES HOUSE OF DRAGONS FAMOUS WITH THE NEW YORK CITY / EMPIRE STATE BUILDING TAKEOVER
NO NOTES! That’s what everyone in town are saying in their critique of the House of Dragons marketing campaign in NYC this past week.
In light of geeking out on brand marketing with my two recent posts, How Advertising works Part 1 and Part 2, it’s intriguing to look at this campaign through the filters Paul Feldwick outlines in his book, Anatomy of Humbug.
In Paul’s spirit and words, this campaign was pure humbug! 🤣 🤌 If you haven’t read Part 2, know that “pure humbug” basically means this campaign absolutely rocked!!!
This made such a scene that the news AND people online aka real life couldn’t help but notice. Not only did they notice, but they also shared all about it.
The Today Show covered this, NY Post covered, local news media covered it, and multiple people contacted me and other coworkers about it throughout the week. P.S. I didn’t work on this directly, it’s not my bag baby, but I do see the humans who feverishly work on this stuff day in/day out. It takes a village. And Giant Spoon is an awesome village. When people are hitting you up and so is their grandma, that’s called cultural impact. It’s a form of fame. And fame is a huge KPI of success in advertising.
I’d argue, this campaign nailed 5 of the 6 advertising MF/TS examined over the past two weeks: Salesmanship, Salience, Social connection, Spin, and Show business. It sold a show. It reminded people they existed in place where they knew other people would know about it too. It was such a moment that news media picked it up. And it did so by having jazz hands in the most excellent of ways.
Absolutely tremendous.
I recommend watching this and deciding which of these are AI versus the real thing.
P.S. Everyone LOVED the real ones.
Shout out to a group of talented individuals/team members at Giant Spoon for coming together to make miracles happen. 👏👏 👏👏
THREE TRUTHS ON TWITTER
I know it’s known as X.com but my bet is you knew exactly WTF I was talking about the moment you read Twitter. That’s called the power of brand. But I digress.
Three truths on Twitter is also known as links to make you think. A reminder to go on a run, get inspired, and get some perspective on gratitude from a real legend.
GO FOR A RUN AND THANK ME LATER
If you’re a consistent reader of MF/TS then you know I’m bias towards this. But truth be told, study after study says if you want to combat negative thoughts / depression then running (or walking) consistently is a surefire way to defeat it. Get out there. Get moving. Get your funk on.
WATCH THIS TO GET ALL THE FEELS & INSPIRED
A few beautiful tidbits from Jonathan’s Tony acceptance speech:
“Thank you for letting me dress up as Mary Poppins when I was 3, thank you for letting me act out scenes from I Love Lucy on my 10th birthday, thank you for always allowing my freak flag to fly without ever making me feel weird about it.”
“Even if they didn't always understand me, my family knew the lifesaving power of fanning the flame of a young person's passions without judgment, I walk through life with an open heart because you let me know that I could; thank you, I love you.”
And finally, I just want to say, when I was a kid in Pennsylvania, I used to record the Tony Awards on a VHS tape and watch the performances over and over again,” Jonathan recalled. “And to actually be able to be a part of making theater in this city, and just this much to be able to watch the work of this incredible, incredible community has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life, and I thank you. And thank you so much for this honor.”
The entire speech is wonderful. I’m not a huge Broadway guy, but I heard this was like Leo DiCaprio winning his Oscar. So to that end, this was a long time coming for a highly respected performer.
READ WHAT ROGER FEDERER SAID ABOUT THIS PHOTO OF HIM AND RAFA NADAL
Roger Federer says he has a framed picture of Rafa and himself embracing each other during Laver Cup 2022:
“I have the picture at home, framed, in a space where I have some other images of my career. I don't want photos everywhere, so I have them in a specific area. And when I pass in front of this one, it always catches my attention because it reflects our camaraderie, our friendship and also the rivalry, all in a single image.”
“It is a moment in which we are both able to reflect on everything we had just experienced, remembering our career and how lucky we have been to be tennis players, to have been able to turn our hobby into a dream profession. That's what that photo means to me.”
“It was a great moment to hold his hand for a second, and basically, to show him my gratitude through that touch.”
Got damn, ain’t that something? You don’t see that kind of perspective, appreciation, and positive mental health in a highly competitive arena everyday. Federer is a really classy dude. Dare I say a role model. May we all be lucky enough come to respect the people we compete with for one reason or another. Afterall, what else is there? 🤔
IMAGES OF THE WEEK
I love Actors. Their ability to translate so many emotions in milliseconds. Their ability to push us into areas we’d never mentally be in otherwise is nothing short of magic. And Donald Sutherland was truly magical. Over a life span he has nearly 200 credits to his name; that’s an absurd amount of credits. Most heavyweights in TV/Film land anywhere between 65 - 90; but nearly 200! JFK, Backdraft, Ordinary People, M*A*S*H*, Animal House, The Dirty Dozen, and so many more. “One of the most intelligent, interesting and engrossing film actors of all time,” said Director Ron Howard. Amen. NYT Obit and review of his dynamic career (this legend had raaaaaaaange). 🙏
Go forth.
Stay safe.
Ride the wave.
-Mitch