Strands of Genius: Flip Stress on Its Head, When Less Is More, How to *Really* Sell The Thing
Plus: Barnvertising, Miniature Golf & Rock City
WRITING FROM | Chattanooga, TN
WORKING ON | a strategic positioning sprint
LOOKING AHEAD
April 15 - 19 | Chattanooga, TN
April 19 - 26 | Beersheba Springs, TN
April 26 - 30 | Miami, FL
April 30 - May 18 | Worcester Park, UK
May 18 - 20 | Nashville, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Spring is springing!
It’s been such a joy to see our backyard coming to life. And crazy to think back to a year ago, when we put an offer on another house, but it didn't work out. Everyone told us we’d end up with the right place, but it was certainly a frustrating period, feeling like the process was out of our hands.
All this to say, we didn’t have this house this time last year. But the people before us have left us so many gifts in the form of daffodils, bluebells, lemon balm, huge irises, and plenty of other wildflowers popping up in the backyard. It’s wild, in the truest sense of the world. It’s a free range yard, that acts as a home to at least two raccoons, a possum, six deer, a woodland mouse, and plenty of birds, in addition to these two humans of course :)
I’m finding that my time away from the computer is spent in the backyard, or on the back deck, listening and looking. It’s a different pace than what we’re used to, and it’s been such a joy to experience this transitional season in our new space. And, we’re looking forward to getting back on the road and spending a month in the UK as well. We keep remind ourselves to give ourselves grace as we find our feet in this new situation, and we hope you’ll do the same for yourselves!
Last weekend, Faris indulged me by attending my 20th high school reunion. I have a lot of love for The University School of Nashville, for the education, certainly, but also for the friendship. I was talking to a former classmate who, by his own account, is “probably more conservative than you.” I asked him how it felt going to a school where the majority of the demographic, including the teachers, seemed to fall on the other side of the political spectrum. And he said something that I’ve told Faris so many times over the years — “USN didn’t tell us what to think, they taught us how to think.”
I’m so grateful that I had an education where we were encouraged us to challenge our teachers. And seeing people after 20 years was such a joy! Truly, my heart feels so full. You don’t need a reunion as an excuse to get back in touch with people, though — so let this be a prompt to reach out and say hi and ask them what’s going on in their lives.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Chef Tev, Anna for hosting our reunion party, Alex for flying in from Paris, the rain for helping our peonies, my mom (esp. for letting us host a dinner party at her house!), San Antonio taco company, and the internet for telling us you can freeze queso for up to 6 months, Noah Kahan and Zack Bryan on repeat, & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
FLIP (WORKPLACE STRESS) ON ITS HEAD
When we experience trauma or stress, we tend to withdraw within ourselves. Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy explores the topic with over 350,000 words, but concludes with one summary piece of advice: “Be not solitary, be not idle.” The problem is, he says, that the solitude of social withdrawal becomes a vicious cycle. “It’s sometimes called “the minimal self” theory, where, when all else fails, we revert back to a more basic mode of existence.” 40% of people say their job is “very or extremely” stressful, and a quarter of people say it’s the number one stressor in their life. The key is creating opportunities for community — both at work, and outside of work, Apparently some offices have a “wine and whine Friday,” but even without a formal event it’s important to reach out to others rather than isolating. Two more ideas from Jonny Thomson here. (Big Think)
SELL THE THING
I know that more and more people are migrating to LinkedIn, but I just don’t really feel like it’s a fun place to be. Still, every once in a while I find myself surprised, like with this post from Steve Wells. He writes about selling ideas to clients, and hones in on one thing that Faris and I have been preaching for years. It’s worth the whole read, but here’s the pull quote that summarizes the thinking:
Some agencies want to skip the strategy bit altogether – and get to the work (which is of course magical, irresistible and the bit of the pitch that costs the most to produce).
Others take the opposite approach and spend forever talking about the strategy, about how smart it is, how smart they are and all of the evidence that they have to show that they’re right.
But the smart agencies don’t talk about the path – they talk about the destination.
They talk about where the path leads and how good it’s gonna feel when you get there.
The best agencies paint a picture of success so vivid that the client can taste it, then sell the path that leads best to it.
The quote we use in our presentations is similar, from Antoine de Saint Exupéry
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." (LinkedIn)
30 AREAS WHERE SUBTRACTING ADDS MORE
One thing I sometimes find myself thinking about is how even while helping brands sell things, I have a desire for minimalism in my own life. I loved reading through this list of things I could maybe do with a little less in, in my life. And it also got me wondering, what if brands acknowledged this perspective more? How rebellious of an act would that be? (Becoming Minimalist)
Want to chat, comment, question, compliment?
:: THE ORIGINS OF MINI GOLF, BARNVERTISING & ROCK CITY ::
You may remember last week that Faris shared a little bit about our trip to Rock City, when we had our friends visiting with their 5 year old son from London. As a child, I’d been. If my memory serves me correctly, I went a few times, with my family and on a school field trip or two.
Rock City is part of Lookout Mountain, on the Tennessee-Georgia border. Garnet Carter wanted to turn this 700-acre area into a Fairyland for his wife, who loved German folklore and mythical creatures. As part of his plans, he would have a golf course, and residential neighborhood. However a few things happened…
1/ Construction took much longer than expected, and the costs were high. To appease people he had told about the golf course, Carter created the first ever mini-golf course, which he called Tom Thumb Golf… which could be enjoyed while the bigger golf course was built. Many places claim to be the first, but Garnet Carter was the first to file the patent in 1920 for mini golf as we know it today, describing it as a “whimsical version of golf, on a much smaller scale.”
Miniature golf goes back to the 1800s, in Scotland, however Carter’s focus was on the whimsical nature. Most mini golf courses focused on real turf, and well-maintained gardens. In 1916, Thistle Dhu (“This’ll do”), a putting-only course, was opened in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Carter leaned into his wife’s love of the European folklore, and his golf courses had obstacles, like sewer pipes and hollowed logs to shoot through, along with gnomes and fairy tale characters throughout the course.
His version was just what the public wanted. Many people felt golf was an elitist sport, and they were prevented playing golf because of the high costs, the time commitment, and other societal causes. Even as his full golf course was developed, more people loved the whimsical version better.
According to this article in Popular Science from the 1930s, 2-3 million people PER DAY were playing on the country’s 25,000 courses. “In August 1930,” write Hilary Greenbaum and Dana Rubinstein for The New York Times, “the Commerce Department estimated that of the 25,000 mini-golf courses in the country, more than half had been built since January.” Tom Thumb Golf, created by the Carters was the first mini golf franchise in the USA.
2/ By the 1940s, the mini golf craze had faded. And realizing the scenery was the main attraction, Frieda developed a trail and gardens, and continued adding fairy tale creatures of her own. (In fact, the love of her ‘fairy tale gardens’ was really what inspired her husband to incorporate them into the mini golf.) Together, they opened Rock City Gardens to the public in 1932, which continues to be a huge draw even today. Today more than 400 different species of native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees decorate the original paths and trails she laid out.
The Carters hired Clark Byers, who was a sign painter for a local advertising agency to help drum up awareness of the gardens themselves. They wanted to do what Mail Pouch, a tobacco company from West Virginia did: paint advertising on existing barns.
Byers was tasked with not only the painting (which he did freehand, up to 3 per day), but convincing the farmers who owned the land, and the barns themselves, to let him paint their rooftops. In exchange, they would get free entry to Rock City along with promotional items. If farmers wanted to forgo the promotional items (branded thermometers), they could instead opt for $3-$5 a year. Today, that would be a measly $70 in rental fees, but you’d get a fresh coat of paint, and perhaps a work of art.
Byers was prolific and painted 900 barns across 19 states, and it worked. Visitors to Rock City shot up after the campaign, and the scenery and trails (along with the hospitality provided by the Carters) kept tourists coming back.
Unfortunately, Byers’ barns didn’t last for long. By 1956, there were more interstates, and people used rural roads (where these barns were) a whole lot less. But there was also legislation from the Johnson administration. The First Lady found billboards to be an eye sore, and the 1956 Highway Beautification Act (known as the Lady Bird Bill after said first lady) limited what was allowed.
Still, it was Byers himself who maintained these barns, coming back through to paint over his original work with a single color when his barns were deemed in commercial zones. He was forced into early retirement just before 1970 (Byers ended up opening his own roadside attraction — Sequoyah Caverns for any other old school Tennesseeans. (We also went there on school trips, but it closed in 2013.)
Today, Rock City receives over a half a million visitors each year, but only 70 of the original barns remain. Those relationships with barn owners go back to the 30s, 40s, 50s. If you happen to be passing through the Southeast, see if your route might pass a Rock City Barn. The signs may be old and faded, but there’s such a beauty to them!
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)
man I love Rock City! thx for the history, had no idea about the mini golf