Who owns polish, and is accessibility superficial?

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in American culture,culture,identity,society

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By ANASTASIA ASHMAN

Growing up in a countercultural town, the presentation and packaging tactics of Madison Avenue and Hollywood, and the protocol of the diplomatic world seemed like subversive tools of the establishment.

I often think of a brilliant local character known as a founding father of California’s rich architectural history who wandered the streets of Berkeley barefoot, his red beard and hair wild, beer belly protruding from a ripped t-shirt. Where might his speaking career — and wind of Berkeley’s astounding architectural heritage — have taken him, if he hadn’t appeared to be a vagrant?

Marketing futurist Seth Godin talked about the decisive role of cultural wisdom – or sophistication — in business, and asked why we don’t take it more seriously.

Is poor presentation a death sentence for a good idea?

I polled my online contacts.

LinkedIn said yes (66%), to be successful an idea demands professionalism. “Presentation is EVERYTHING!” effused one person.

Facebook was split, debating what professionalism means and the harm of over-marketing, with craftspeople and small business owners shouting “Hell no!” Commitment ranked as the top factor in success. One pragmatic man observed “Professionalism works in dull markets,” while a fellow Berkeleyan admitted we have to ”be able to engage with the status quo enough to be able to transmit a new concept.”

Here at the blog, 50% thought if the idea was winning people would forgive a shaggy package and one respondent likened presentation to the booster rocket that gets the Space Shuttle in to orbit.

Is superficial accessibility superficial? Or are movements we think of as “fringe” on the periphery not just because their beliefs are minorly held, but because they refuse to persuade from within general convention?
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Anastasia Ashman is a California-born writer/producer of neoculture entertainment based in Istanbul. This series covers what’s crossing the mind and desk of expat+HAREM’s founder.
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Tagged as: Anastasia Ashman, Berkeley, counterculture, diplomatic corps, establishment, expat+HAREM founder, expat+HAREM founder series, Facebook, founder's desk, fringe, Hollywood, LinkedIn, Madison Avenue, packaging, polish, presentation, professionalism, Seth Godin, sophistication, substance, superficial, superficiality

  • http://www.retaggr.com/Card/AnastasiaAshman Anastasia M. Ashman

    This November 2, 2009 New Yorker magazine commentary by Louis Menand about the puzzling White House decision to declare war on the anti-Administration FOX News says it exactly: “[FOX] is the voice of the fringe, and the fringe is exactly where you want the opposition to set up permanent shop.”

    Fringe kills your credibility and limits your audience, even if you’re a slick TV network….or does it? The White House doesn’t seem to agree.

    Tara, I think packaging can be integral (keep your idealism!) and when it is, the idea/product/service has a better chance of achieving its aims — whatever they may be — since it’s not in conflict with itself.

  • http://www.expatharem.com/identity-messages/ Anastasia

    This November 2, 2009 New Yorker magazine commentary by Louis Menand about the puzzling White House decision to declare war on the anti-Administration FOX News says it exactly: “[FOX] is the voice of the fringe, and the fringe is exactly where you want the opposition to set up permanent shop.”

    Fringe kills your credibility and limits your audience, even if you’re a slick TV network….or does it? The White House doesn’t seem to agree.

    Tara, I think packaging can be integral (keep your idealism!) and when it is, the idea/product/service has a better chance of achieving its aims — whatever they may be — since it’s not in conflict with itself.

  • http://www.taralutmanagacayak.blogspot.com Tara Lutman Agacayak

    Could it be that the packaging is integral to the idea itself? That they are not separate but the same? (I’m trying to find a way to hang on to my idealism)

  • http://www.taralutmanagacayak.blogspot.com Tara Lutman Agacayak

    Could it be that the packaging is integral to the idea itself? That they are not separate but the same? (I’m trying to find a way to hang on to my idealism)

  • http://www.retaggr.com/Card/AnastasiaAshman Anastasia M. Ashman

    Some people might say that style without substance — good packaging and a weak idea — succeeds more often than the idealists would like. E.g. FOX News? Boy bands? Pet rocks.

    The barefoot historian (now deceased) doesn’t have buildings in his name that I could find, Tara.

    If, as Catherine writes, the world has to be ready for a new idea/movement then timing (or “market placement”) may be most important of all….

  • http://www.expatharem.com/identity-messages/ Anastasia

    Some people might say that style without substance — good packaging and a weak idea — succeeds more often than the idealists would like. E.g. FOX News? Boy bands? Pet rocks.

    The barefoot historian (now deceased) doesn’t have buildings in his name that I could find, Tara.

    If, as Catherine writes, the world has to be ready for a new idea/movement then timing (or “market placement”) may be most important of all….

  • http://www.taralutmanagacayak.blogspot.com Tara

    When I answered your poll on LinkedIn, I said that a good idea would prevail despite poor packaging. This is based on my belief that “the proof is in the pudding” and a true and authentic idea can’t be affected by packaging.

    And then I thought of the opposite – can a bad idea thrive with good presentation?

    Perhaps it can in the beginning, but in the long term I really do think the truth of anything is what carries it forward.

    But when I think of how we encourage our artisans to consider both their handcrafted products AND how they will package it, maybe I should rethink everything I’ve just written.

    No, no – because when they produce something really good, it sells despite its packaging; what it is comes through regardless.

    Aren’t the barefoot architect’s buildings still standing to speak for him despite his appearance?

    Am I being to idealistic?

  • http://www.taralutmanagacayak.blogspot.com Tara

    When I answered your poll on LinkedIn, I said that a good idea would prevail despite poor packaging. This is based on my belief that “the proof is in the pudding” and a true and authentic idea can’t be affected by packaging.

    And then I thought of the opposite – can a bad idea thrive with good presentation?

    Perhaps it can in the beginning, but in the long term I really do think the truth of anything is what carries it forward.

    But when I think of how we encourage our artisans to consider both their handcrafted products AND how they will package it, maybe I should rethink everything I’ve just written.

    No, no – because when they produce something really good, it sells despite its packaging; what it is comes through regardless.

    Aren’t the barefoot architect’s buildings still standing to speak for him despite his appearance?

    Am I being to idealistic?

  • http://skaiangates.blogspot.com Catherine Yigit

    There are many reasons for fringe movements being on the fringe, their own merits being only one. The history of science is one of paradigm shifts, where a new way of thinking emerges and eventually the general convention itself shifts to that way of thinking.
    An example is plate tectonics, a theory that only really emerged in the 1960′s and was adopted by everyone in the following twenty years; now it’s an integral part of geology. But there were forerunners to plate tectonics that were sidelined in the years beforehand. Alfred Wegener wrote in the early 1900′s about the idea of continental drift, but without a mechanism his ideas were largely ignored by the scientific community.
    In a sense the world needs to be ready for that new idea or movement, if it’s not then they won’t catch hold of the popular imagination. That doesn’t mean working from within general convention is the way to go though, very often the value of the fringe idea comes from the fresh outlook it can give. The value of an idea should not be based on how many people hold that idea, in short.

  • http://www.skaiangates.com Yazarc

    There are many reasons for fringe movements being on the fringe, their own merits being only one. The history of science is one of paradigm shifts, where a new way of thinking emerges and eventually the general convention itself shifts to that way of thinking.
    An example is plate tectonics, a theory that only really emerged in the 1960′s and was adopted by everyone in the following twenty years; now it’s an integral part of geology. But there were forerunners to plate tectonics that were sidelined in the years beforehand. Alfred Wegener wrote in the early 1900′s about the idea of continental drift, but without a mechanism his ideas were largely ignored by the scientific community.
    In a sense the world needs to be ready for that new idea or movement, if it’s not then they won’t catch hold of the popular imagination. That doesn’t mean working from within general convention is the way to go though, very often the value of the fringe idea comes from the fresh outlook it can give. The value of an idea should not be based on how many people hold that idea, in short.

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