Living like a superhero
I dipped back into my mail, and a long term correspondent indicated that Wolfe has successfully infiltrated some more TV with some superfood, superhero stuff. This is a bit of a stretch for those outside the USA. It seems to work reasonably well for him in terms of gaining followers there however.
It seems a bit of a tough ask, living like a superhero. Surely it is much easier just to live at speed, not engaging in any complicated interactions, working hard, and having fun with people you are used to, so that you know their limitations and agree to them. Nobody too challenging, so that you don’t have to change anything about yourself.
When is Ina being naughty, I wonder? Is it when she comes right out and says it, or questions the thinking behind it?
All joking aside, the superhero marketing, which I seem to remember started after the diabolical ‘Amazing Grace,’ leaves me cold, personally. I guess it is aimed at the sort of audience I would personally avoid, but then I don’t do money, golfers or people who spend their lives blocking out actual thought.
It is not something I plan to make use of in the development of the game, so I am sorry if this does not suit. The computer game will be a lot closer to the bone in terms of breaking down reality, rather than the marketing sub-reality.
On a more encouraging note, alternative health benefits enormously from this more imaginative approach to marketing. Wolfe has managed to take a fairly mundane, and in some cases, extremely grim topic, and turn it into a circus event, attracting a sector of the wider community who like to spend lots of disposable income. This is very smart marketing, and anyone in the alternative health movement would benefit enormously from allowing some of this pzazz to rub off.
Retaining this passing crowd after they have moved on to bigger responsibilities is more difficult. People only fall in love with Peter Pan for so long. It is a difficulty I have sought to address with the books, although my readership are far wider spread, slightly older and more appreciative of depth than Wolfe is interested in. I always think of him as a colander. It does not matter how much you pour in, it slowly trickles back out and only a proportion of it is retained for the wider alternative health market.
Solving this problem is something that will only happen when Wolfe himself accepts that there is more to it than drive. He may never accept this, and it certainly isn’t in my remit to change policies which continue to work moderately well for him. It is really better not to look or know anything about it.
Virgin was successful because the company matured with Richard Branson. He has successfully harnessed a lifelong market because he has moved his marketing position from trendy but scruffy to a bland, all encompassing consistency which now attracts people investing in pensions and financial products.
I could make quite a lengthy post about the evolution of Virgin, but I know from experience that followers of Virgin, Americans and people who think that money trumps knowledge would become angry that they had not noticed the cunning behind the money machine. People do not like it when you point out what they haven’t noticed, and they assume that you are envious of something which is rooted in fact. No successful person is altogether nice. The two simply do not go together.
Anyway, demanding that you live like a superhero is a pretty big demand, appreciated only by airheads and the easily entertained. It is not something that appeals to people on a lifelong basis, so perhaps it is I that should accept that Peter Pan likes variety, and imagines that everyone will have their somewhat embarrassing Wolfe phase. I was supposed to let this go years ago, but I refuse to give up on his development, which I regard as somewhat neglected in favour of the transitory public.
It is a shame, because there is a sterling person in there, who deserves so much more than he asks from life.