(Don't) Con the I

Rituals
Initiation
Exclusive Product Offering
Over-delivery
Myths
Relevant Sensory Oddity
Icons
Tribalism
Endorsement

Continuity

are the seven engines of Conversational Capital, a refreshing and comprehensive marketing approach, whereby the task of marketers is not just to create buzz around the product, but rather, to create a viable story about it and consistently deliver on it on the promise, year in, year out. 
The authors of the book (B. Cesvet, T. Babinski, E. Alper: "Conversational Capital. How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About") are top people of a unique Montreal- and Amsterdam- based advertising agency, Sid Lee. Yes, their story is very appealing and gave me a lot of food for thought. And my thought has been very hungry. 

They claim that the story about your product is an integral part of the experience, and not just something applied to it, like rabbit ears to a chicken. Surely such claim appeals to a Rabbit, who wouldn’t like his ears to be applied to anyone else, be it a chicken, a fox or even a hare. The latter wouldn’t have appreciated such an exchange anyway, as a hare’s ears are as different from a rabbit’s as Conversational Capital is from conventional approach to marketing. 

The authors talk about a certain triangle and claim that it should be as compact as possible. The three points of that triangle are: who you are, who you say you are and who people say you are. This applies not only to products, but to people and organisations alike. 
They talk about creationist v.s. evolutionist word-of-mouth, the latter one being much more powerful in creating a story which will be talked about. And such talk is the most efficient, yet completely free-of-charge, marketing tool. 
So, if you want your story to sell, think first of who you are and make sure you do communicate who you are, and not something that you are not (but would merely wish to be). You’ll make people believe in what you deliver, and if you deliver it consistently to people’s content - they surely will talk about you. The book is about brand creation, but the authors admit that Conversational Capital applies in many other areas. 

Think of the Church, for instance. This is probably true of most, if not all, of the churches, but let me just refer to the one I know the best - the Catholic Church. The rituals (sure), the initiation (you join it by baptism only), Exclusive Product Offering (the “product” being applied to Salvation, is perhaps an unfortunate term, but however you call it - exclusive it certainly is), over-delivery (that remains to be seen, but I’ve heard of the near-death experience as being something indescribably terrific, so if Heaven is much more, over-delivery it certainly is), myths (sure, though we call them the Truth), Relevant Sensory Oddity (the smell of candles and incense, to name just one example), icons (obviously), tribalism (by joining it, you become “one of us”), endorsement (ever heard of Mother Theresa?), continuity (it has remained largely unchanged for over two thousand years). Coincidentally, a triangle happens to be also one of its symbols, though not necessarily meaning the same thing as the one mentioned in "Conversational Capital". 

So where has it gone wrong? Why is the story of the Catholic Church losing its power? Would the Church be failing to deliver on its promise? 

The problem is - nobody knows, as the promise refers to the afterlife. There might be some happy souls conversing merrily about the story of the Catholic Church in paradise, spreading the word about salvation which is guaranteed for devoted members, but no echos of those conversations have reached us, earthlings, so far.

Therefore whether this Church, any other church or spiritual path deliver on their promise remains a question of belief. 
But believing can make things happen. Therefore, as there are both believers and non-believers among us, I do not exclude the possibility that God both exists and doesn’t. Like a Schroedinger’s cat.

Coming back to Conversational Capital - it worked in my case. Completely for free, I’m spreading the word about the book now. Read it. It’s difficult to get in printed version, so getting hold of it already becomes an initiation: the book started to deliver on its promise even before it promised me anything. Someone was asking 70 euro for a second-hand copy (an e-book is there for you for a mere 16.99 eur, but the array of the things I believe in do not include an e-book. I need that Relevant Sensory Oddity that goes with the touch of paper under your fingers, and the pleasant sound as you open your printed book).

Just a little quote “to get people to say you are smart and funny, you have to be smart and funny in the first place.” This brings me to my favourite song by Daan:

“so don’t try to be an icon
con the I inside of you
that picture you’ve been painting
doesn’t look a thing like you”

This song could have been added to “Conversational Capital” for extra sensory oddity, in fact. With next printed edition, maybe?