I enjoy the CBS line-up of comedies on Thursday night, and on this particular Thursday, I was inspired by two of the storylines.

If you are a Big Bang Theory fan, you would have laughed at Sheldon attempting to build his own comic book convention after the group failed to get tickets in time to the Comic-Con.  He ended up having a full day with James Earl Jones, and it was all rather hilarious seeing Mr. Jones in a fun-loving, prankster capacity.  The big lesson from this storyline was Sheldon’s determination to blaze his own trail when he was locked out of the normal channels.  It may have seemed ludicrous, but new ideas and adventures will never happen unless you get a little goofy like Sheldon.

When I was in Chicago, I wanted to be in a brass quintet.  It turned out that at the time, there wasn’t a spot for me (horn) in some of the other groups.  So, I pulled a “Sheldon” and started my own quintet with one of my trombone friends.  We gigged around Chicagoland for about 6 years before I moved.  I absolutely loved my group and now I can’t imagine not having blazed our own trail.

The point is, if you feel like you are being locked out by the “bigger establishments,” why not blaze your own trail.  Many people have done this to establish new businesses that are now big in their own right.  If you have the passion and a great idea, go for it without asking for permission.

The second storyline came from The Crazy Ones.  They were needing to come up with a campaign for a cat food line, and Simon was up against a Quant (quantitative analyst) to pitch for the campaign.  The Quant won the initial competition using all his number crunching facts, figures, analysis to figure out what the judges wanted to see.  However, in the end, his bland version of selling the cat food based on the easy open can was not thrilling enough for the cat food company big wigs.  Simon saves the day by not only using this analysis, but adding a big layer of creativity to sell the concept.

Using research and data analysis is very smart to do, but we still need to be our creative selves to instill the emotion and passion behind what we do to attract an audience (the right audience).  Otherwise, you will appear bland, boring, same old, and stale, and simply blend in with all those other businesses that are not going the creative extra mile.

Inspiration is everywhere.  You just have to look around you. It can be a fun process too, especially if the inspiration is from a few of your favorite comedy shows.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder

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