don knotts is everywhere

my friend meagan and i have this thing when you see a movie idea you’ve been meditating on show up in the public arena that there’s actually a don knotts-type fellow skulking around cafes and bars and the like carrying a big red telephone with a direct line to Hollywood. anytime he hears a great idea he picks up the receiver and yells, “HOLLYWOOD!” and then proceeds to describe the movie idea he’s just heard from the average joe to the hollywood producer who then goes on to make the movie before anyone else has the chance. this is either the absolute truth or there’s something behind that collective consciousness thing...

i lean toward the first for a laugh but the latter for reality.

case in point, these past few days i’ve been working on an article called “the brown ricing of blogging” for new corporate bloggers. and, out in the world, the great mr. seth godin has been doing the same ... check his interpretation under "Squid soup, part II: Inertia and White food" posted yesterday ...

when you're done with the master, here's where i was taking it:

The Brown-Ricing of Blogging.

OK. Brown rice. You know, the stuff you eat for about a week when you’re starting your health kick. “Brown rice is better for you.” “Eat brown rice instead of white.” “Brown rice is so much more nutritious.” And on and on and on.

Now, think about starting a new corporate initiative like blogs. When you begin thinking of blogs for your company, you may get excited by it all. “It’ll be good for us.” “Over the long term, it’ll truly help our entity.” "This is healthy for our company." And on and on and on. But the thing with blogs is, ta-da, they're like brown rice. And for someone new to blogging as marketing intitiative, this is different. It’s not bland like white rice. It cooks differently than white rice. It has a different audience than white rice. But, you think, “I’m ok with that ... I’m up for the challenge ... I want to try it ...” So you go to your team and say, "Guess what's for lunch?" And they cringe. They're nervous about the brown rice. It tastes weird. It's too different. We're just not ready.

But the truth, you'll say? White rice is plain, old media. Print and billboards and broadcast, oh my. Brown rice is new media. Social and collaborative and transparent, yee haw. And more, you'll say? Brown rice is better for us. More far-reaching. More longevitity-focused. Brown rice is healthy for our customers AND our company. And finally, you'll say? As we speak, more and more people are eating brown rice. And since they have, their tastes are never going to be the same. And us? We have the choice to lead, participate or ignore the dinner party entirely.

And if they still scoff? Bring out the big guns: What would JC do? That is, what would Julia Child do? Oh yeah, she'd cook that brown rice, dig right in and revolutionize the freakin' world.

Comments

[Ratchet]

Hello? Don Knotts? Listen up. Clearly he's not hanging around at our geeky University Editors weekly meeting because last week this item showed up in our meeting minutes:
"Write a story that includes all three of these commonly feared things: clowns, nutcrackers, and Celine Dion."
If anyone can make that movie or write that song--it's Elissa & Meagan. Go ahead. Be the first! : )

[Elissa Gjertson]

Meags will do the movie ... Miss LuAnn Blocker will do the soundtrack ... ;)