Virgil Winston:Marketing Guru
I spent all day with my six year old at the county fair. It was great fun and we both ended up with the stomach aches to prove it. I haven’t eaten that many honey roasted peanuts, ice cream sandwiches and corn dogs since, well, since last year. We rode every ride three times, pet piglets, baby goats and sheep and even participated in a root beer drinking contest. My son lost to a chubby eight year old who was visiting from Iowa. He cried for a minute but forgot the trauma of losing as soon as he took his first pony ride. He loved the tilt-a-whirl so much he threw up his slurpee as soon as he got off for the fifth time. Fortunately his mother had the foresight to pack an extra shirt for each of us. I guess the third kid’s a charm.
My favorite part, aside from spending quality time with my boy, was seeing all the grass roots marketing going on around me. The fair provides ample opportunity to market almost any product or service because it attracts such a wide audience. During the day, families fill the sawdust-covered grounds and at night, the teens and young people flock to the fairgrounds to ride the rides, listen to music and have fun without their parents looking over their shoulders. I was please to see a plethora of fledgling marketers passing out all kinds of branded swag. I came home with a bag full of refrigerator magnets and pens promoting everything from pet sitters to plumbers. One enterprising young future marketing genius realized that the only thing better than a magnet or pen, is a Magnetic Pen. I just love a kid who thinks outside the box. Nothing warms my heart more than a fistful of imprinted give-always, except maybe a fistful of honey roasted peanuts—I love those things. All in all, it was a perfect day filled with three of my favorite things–family, food and marketing.
Speaking of food, I’ve got to go prepare for my neighborhood’s annual chili cook off. I’ve got a recipe that can’t miss. Remember, “Marketing is like eating, everybody loves to eat, but not everyone knows how to cook.”