I’m A Believer!

It’s Thanksgiving Week.  I’m thankful I am here.  I’m thankful AI and social media hasn’t completely lobotomized me yet.  I’m thankful I get to work with all of you.  I’m thankful for work actually.  And of course family, health and all that jazz.  I’m also thankful that the industry hasn’t yet gone the way of radio.  But shit, here I am a couple sentences in and I meant to keep it light this week.  So let me do that.  

I’m thinking of a word…wait for it…and its Synesthesia.  Johnsen you already on one of those thanksgiving signature cocktails?  Stay with me here.  

“Synesthesia is a phenomenon that causes sensory crossovers, such as tasting colors or feeling sounds. Some people describe it as having “wires crossed” in their brain because it activates two or more senses when there’s only a reason for one sense to activate.”

Huh?  Well, MY synesthesia is thinking of a business subject in musical terms.  I mean how droll and grey would the world be without the language of music?  In fact I watched “Ali” on a plane ride home the other night and thought to myself that they are telling the story through music.  The movie wouldn’t have been half as good if they hadn’t opened with Sam Cooke.  So why can’t business unfold the same way?  

“I thought love was more or less a given thing
Seems the more I gave the less I got
What’s the use in trying? (Duh-duh-duh duh-duh)
All you get is pain (duh-duh-duh duh-duh)
When I needed sunshine, I got rain
Oh, then I saw her face, now I’m a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I’m in love (mm, ah)
I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried
Oh (the magic)”  (Yes, written by Neil Diamond…not the Monkees).

But wait for it.  Here comes the bridge.  Monkees star and lead guitar Michael Nesmith’s mom, Bette Nesmith Graham, while working as an executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust, invented Liquid Paper, also known as white out.  Yes, I know, for those of you that have never set eyes on a typewriter, you have no idea what white out is.  But for those of you, like myself, who worked on a typewriter and discovered that rather than re-typing the entire page from scratch you could just put a little “nail polish” on the typo, that was HUGE.  

So what?  So what…is she went on to build a big ass company and later sell it to Gillette.  Vision, tenacity, gumption, hard work, good luck and persistence deliver to us yet another American Success story.  I am thankful.  

Bette Nesmith Graham – Wikipedia

Great Johnsen, but where’s the music?  Turns out that Bette inspired her son not only to try out for the Monkees TV series, but also go on to invent the music video concept (although you could argue that the Monkees was the first music video concept) and develop the predecessor to MTV.  

Michael Nesmith – Wikipedia

If you don’t want to read the whole thing (although short) at least take this away:

“During a group meeting with musical supervisor Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis, in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, each actor received a $250,000 royalties check; yet Nesmith still threatened to quit. Moelis rebuked him: “You’d better read your contract”. Nesmith defiantly punched a hole in the wall, declaring to Moelis, “That could have been your face, motherfucker!”  (No relation to THE Ken Moelis btw)

So three takeaways:

1. Liquid Paper made me think back to the days of fantastic teaser campaigns.  Does anyone still do them???  Maybe we need to take some good copy execution and apply some white-out for a couple weeks before removing it.  Wouldn’t that be cool?
2. How the hell do we bring some more musicality to this industry?  Websites, office lobbies, GM (if they still exist) music videos, client karaoke anyone?
3. Happy Thanksgiving.  Break out the boom box.