So, I’m pretty much addicted (at least until The Hills comes back) to a “reality” show on MTV called From G’s to Gents. It’s exactly like it sounds. Fourteen real-life gangstas including D-Boy, E6, Shotta, J Boogie, The Truth and my own personal fave, Creepa try to prove that they can leave their gangbanging ways behind for a new, gentlemanly lifestyle – and $100,000. Fonzworth Bentley (P. Diddy’s former man servant) is there to give them lessons on the finer things and hosts weekly challenges for the G’s to showcase their new skills.
During this week’s episode the contestants learned how to write a resume, practiced interviewing skills and were then challenged to create a marketing plan for a new international hip-hop group called The Thunderkatz and then “present their presentations”, as one contestant said, to Irv Gotti, the founder of Murder Inc. Records.
Group one’s marketing plan is to create a music video for their first single. And… Nope, that’s is. All the marketing that this group needs is a music video and they’re set. Next.
Group two’s plan is a little more robust. Their strategy included calling radio stations and DJs to solicit airplay and scheduling a concert in Miami. I’m sure making a video was in their plan too. Next.
That brings me to group three. I have to say, the point of this entire blog was to make fun of their marketing plan, but this group pleasantly surprised me. Their plan included making pages for the band on Facebook and MySpace, along with an interactive game that could be played on the sites. Hey, that might be something our office would recommend too.
It was interesting to watch people with no formal training or experience in this industry, create a marketing plan. My point is that a big part of this job is education and the knowledge you pick up along the way, but you have to have a bit of intuition and definitely be passionate about what you do to be successful.
(Also, a note to the ownership group: we may seriously want to consider hiring the winner of this competition. Go Creepa!)
2024 Predictions
Thanks to everyone who responded to our 2024 Predictions survey last month. While the sample size wasn’t quite the size of a Pew or Nielsen,