What’s weird today may be genius tomorrow

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Good morning, Marketers, may you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung.

“Keep Austin Weird” is the 2nd most recognizable ad slogan from the Lone Star State (No. 1 = “Don’t Mess With Texas”). It’s also a good reminder to keep an eye out for the strange and eccentric. The daily deluge of data makes it easy to think everything you need is somewhere in those numbers. Unfortunately, numbers can only tell you what’s been counted, not what hasn’t.

There’s a strong chance that anything radical or revolutionary will look wrong at first glance. We like familiar patterns and ways of doing things. What’s different can feel like an attack on what we know. We forget the only constant in life is change. So, look for the odd and unsettling – it may be exactly what you need. Remember, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Words to live by, if not understand. 

Constantine von Hoffman,
Managing Editor

About The Author

Constantine von Hoffman is managing editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications. He has also been a professional stand-up comedian, given talks at anime and gaming conventions on everything from My Neighbor Totoro to the history of dice and boardgames, and is author of the magical realist novel John Henry the Revelator. He lives in Boston with his wife, Jennifer, and either too many or too few dogs.