Contrast & Comparison Piece: Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead and The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whining and Phony Outrage = 2 Most Recent Books I read over the holidays 2012 – 2013.

 

 

There are a few of you who may openly represent the majority and may be like, “first off, why are there even books published on Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead and The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whining and Phony Outrage? And, why did you read them. What’s wrong with you?!”

 

 

And, that’s the first similarity. Both books not only use the phrase, “lock step and barrel” but explain why outside of a military mission applying this mentality to business and journalism and an open free society, in general, is a perilous recipe to follow for low productivity and eventual failure. For if every citizen followed the “lock step and barrel” mentality with every neighbor on their street, on their block and their city – what would be the difference then from living in North Korea?

Neither The Grateful Dead or Greg Gutfeld could have been birthed by a place like North Korea. They would both be targets of national pride for letting their “freak flags fly.” But being Greg Gutfeld should not be a crime here in the free Western World – let alone Manhattan – and the Grateful Dead should not have been a target for the Nixxon administration (unlike Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, G.W. Bush who did not use its reach of power to crack-down on the Grateful Dead and massive audiences in stadiums & arenas across the country as the Grateful Dead and Deadhead Nation born in the sixties & early seventies really flourished and picked up speed on down the track in the 80’s and 90’s and was truly an iconic juggernaut - allowing them to be the most money making touring act of the time). Furthermore, if there were no Greg Gutfeld or Grateful Dead, there would be no trickle-down-effect.

“Really,” you ask?

Well, yes. For example, back in the early 70’s even a “roadie” for The Grateful Dead made $100,000.00 and had healthcare! And, of a common amount, but certainly not value, Greg Gutfeld’s “roadie” side-kick on one of his shows on Fox News Channel makes $100,000.00 today in the 21^st century. (But, hey, Bill Schulz lives in Greg’s basement in the old fruit cellar so in Greg’s defense Bill Schulz doesn’t have to pay for Manhattan rent. So, given that, $100,000.00 in the 70’s and $100,000.00 in 2012 may be a fair wage to try and compare for essentially the same job requirements). Not to mention that when the Grateful Dead toured = tens of thousands of people not only attended the shows each night & day but a big percentage of those tens of thousands of fans toured around the country with the Grateful Dead as both consumers and entrepreneurs in whatever town or city the next show was located. (I know in 1995 when the Grateful Dead played Three River stadium in Pittsburgh, PA with Rusted Root as its opening act = I personally spent money in downtown Pittsburgh on a hotel room for me + friends for two nites + I may have had a veggie burrito & bottled Heineken in the parking lot from some DeadHead who sat-up-shop there to make enough money for gas to get to the next show of “summer tour”). And, just recently, Greg Gutfeld had two bus tours promoting his latest book The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whining and Phony Outrage bringing huge crowds into bookstores across the country (however, it’s probably not appropriate for me to describe what was being sold in-the-parking-lot-scene of out of the trunks of vehicles by the type of entrepreneur Greg Gutfeld’s trickle-down-effect sprouts).

So, where Greg Gutfeld is a practicing libertarian and for that takes heat from both parties and The Grateful Dead was a target by those too paranoid to quite dig the perceived trumped-up “counter culture movement” and survived a ton of heat – rather than fold and just pack-up-shop – both Gutfeld and The Dead have let their “freak flags fly” and have created prosperity for themselves and those around them.

And, yet, they are both very different. For instance, whereas The Grateful Dead did not attend Uni @ Berkeley they were very much responsible for inventing that Birkenstock lifestyle of those attorneys, doctors, professors, scientists, engineers & journalists who loved to attend Grateful Dead shows in Berkeley --- Gutfeld attended Berkeley and hated those attorneys, doctors, professors, scientists, engineers & journalists who put on their Bikenstocks, patchouli & tie-dye shirts and attended those coveted Grateful Dead shows @ Berkeley.

Greg is hated by liberals. The Grateful Dead adored by such liberals as Bill Clinton himself. There’s a YouTube video of Bill Clinton emotionally talking about the death of the Grateful Dead’s lead guitarist & spiritual leader, Jerry Garcia.

In Marketing Lessons from The Grateful Dead points out for a successful marketing team, you must be made-up of different types and be able to roll-with-the-punches looking for new business models & ways to get the word out to an audience. The Grateful Dead had a mailing list in the early 70’s thats database was filled with tens of thousands of fans eager to receive personalized information from the band – also receiving access to the best seats in the house for upcoming shows before a middle-man-scalper gobbled them up or were merely left up to a ticketmaster to sell you - which in the 80’s turned into an email list. Greg Gutfeld has also used new media as a vehicle to let his audience in on insider information on him & his activities with an interactive website called The Activity Pit http://activitypit.ning.com/video/greg-gutfeld-anthem-1 + certainly has surrounded himself with a team made up of different styles of thinking & experience. Tune-into either of Greg’s shows on FNC, Red Eye (which appears at 3 a.m.) and The Five (which appears at 5 p.m.) and you’ll see just how different these people are for a roundtable forum with Greg as the leader. (The result = a product more edgy than any D.C. “think tank” or professors lounge at Brown).

True diversity is good. And, true tolerance is good. These books and their subjects couldn’t exist without true diversity and true tolerance within a culture.

In conclusion, although these two books and their subjects are very different from each other they both celebrate the philosophy and freedom of “truth, justice & the American way" that deserves to be celebrated at its fullest.

For if we all were the same and targeted for being different, it certainly would crack-down on the opportunity to make more money than your neighbor or co-worker and advance in business, politics, culture & government and life in general.

Best of New Year Roses,
New Media Matters: an everyday art
@ mystrawhat.com