wear your pants

You’ve heard the saying “Wear your heart on your sleeve.”  Now comes a new one:

Wear your pants.

It was inspired by friend, #agencyball teammate and all around smart marketing genius Saul Colt.

In an age of social media this and digital marketing that, it is sometimes refreshing that good old word of mouth can be simple and effective.

Saul spoke yesterday in New York at an event called Word of Mouth Supergenius.  It was put on by the good folks at gaspedal.  Now, I wasn’t there to hear Saul speak.  However, I have heard him speak on numerous occasions.  And I’ve been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of an outlet pass from him on the court.  So I think I know a little bit about how he operates.

Saul is a marketing genius.  He understands (I think) that to make a mark a brand needs to employ the element of surprise.  He knows that people will remember and (maybe more importantly) tweet about moments of “Ah Ha!”

For example, he’s bought a free-loading client a bottle of wine, put the SkyDome up for sale and has taken pictures with Santa in the middle of summer.  All “Wow!” moments to say the least.

And the companies he’s worked for have benefited from his wacky antics.  Freshbooks, Zip.ca, Zoocasa and Thoora.com are all better off because Saul has been on their payroll.

But here’s the important thing.  The thing that separates marketing professionals from people like Saul who are marketing geniuses: Even when Saul is not “working” he’s working.  Whether it’s the insanity of some of his tweets or the clothes he wears, Saul has figured out that the element of surprise doesn’t stop when he leaves the office.

He literally wears his heart on his sleeve.  Or in Saul’s case, he likes to wear his pants.  Or something like that.

Do you walk your talk?

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