Let's face it. Most marketing material sucks. It's bland copy written by soulless zombies who dream of having fun with the messaging while being honest and truthful. But they can't. They're locked in environments and companies that just want them to make the regular donuts/widgets (pick your analogy), kind of like the insurance/actuarial company that Tyler Durden worked for in Fight Club.
Sucks to be them. They should blog to rage against the machine.
Fortunately, there are always some guys who own their own business and pledged to keep it real or burn through all their startup money trying. You need an example? Try Starr Tincup, a Ft. Worth based firm focused on providing marketing services to vendors in the human capital space.
Lucky for you and me, Starr Tincup has been around since 2005, so they've probably made it at this point. We're lucky because the boys and girls at ST speak in a voice that nobody else does. It's brilliant marketing, and the authenticity of what they say is different from anything else you've heard. They talk like most people think. At least how the cool people think.
Need proof? Let's take a look at some copy from the new Starr Tincup site:
"You know the photo. You’ve seen it in emails, ads in trade publications, on the covers of white papers
. It’s the thoughtful female HR executive, alone in her office, wrestling with intricacies of the War for Talent. Youngest VP in the history of her company. So confident. So assured. And her glasses? Those frames are like … $900. She’s thinking about your comprehensive suite of talent management applications and how awesome you are.
This is what most firms pawn off as marketing in the human capital software and services space. Not Starr Tincup. We call it lame. Producing the same hackneyed crap as everyone else doesn’t set you apart, and it doesn’t say anything about your brand … unless the planks in your brand platform include “timidity” and “sucking.”
That’s not how we roll. Years ago, we made a pledge to ourselves that we would innovate marketing in this space. We went through a very painful process to understand the biggest constraints, and we methodically set about creating a solution for each one. Solutions in hand, we then carefully constructed a model to help our clients create the appropriate marketing strategies to achieve not just excellence, but dare we say dominance. Think 1992 Dallas Cowboys."
Not convinced? How about this?
"God bless the Internet. We see the world in a much different way thanks to the World Wide Web. Sure, it’s ruined some cool things along the way, like independent book and record stores, pictures of kittens, newspapers and magazines, and the concept of privacy. But on the plus side, it’s also put the last nail in the coffin of some pretty horrible things forever, like the Yellow Pages and Rick Astley’s career."
Finally, let's look at the online job description for an intern from Starr Tincup:
"The marketing intern position has very few similarities to a traditional internship. You will not be getting coffee. You will not be relegated to a hidden cubicle in a dark corner, with nothing to do but check your fantasy football team stats / surf MySpace (depending on your gender).
See any of the actual jobs and take it down by about 25 percent. You'll be doing that … and occasionally getting coffee—DAMMIT, did we already say you wouldn't be doing that?!?!?! Screw it—you better make a sweet caramel macchiato.
You'll need thick skin and the ability to be told, “That sucks. Do it again!” 15 times a day without breaking down in tears. Seriously, we can't take it when people cry. We understand it's a perfectly normal human response to any number of situations, we've just been emotionally dead for so long it reminds us of what it was once like … before she entered our lives ….
If you aren't qualified for this position, you aren't qualified for much outside of the drive-thru at Taco Bell. But my cousin used to work there and he said it isn't bad money — if you're 16. Plus, who doesn't like free Gorditas?
Above average intelligence never hurts. How would you know? Think back to grade school—ever been in a gifted and talented program? No? Well ... this is awkward ....
And it'd be nice if you were an M.B.A. student. It really helps the non-M.B.A. account managers and directors with their ego issues. You'll also need an idea of what you want to learn … or not. Maybe you want to be a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none. Who are we to judge? Speaking of judging, one final caveat: you need to be photogenic. Take that how you will, we're just putting it out there. Still interested? Send an email compiling your education, work history and personal information (some would call that a résumé, but such proletarian thinking is snuffed out with haste around here) to careers@starrtincup.com. If it doesn't suck completely we'll be in touch.
I know what you're thinking. Not everyone will buy from the kids at Starr Tincup, and you're right. Some people will be scared. Remember two things - they're a creative firm, so showing they can bring it works to their advantage, and most importantly, they don't need everyone to build thriving small to medium size businesses. They just need to cut through the clutter and connect with the people who are dying to work with somebody real.
If they own that niche, they're money. Authenticity with Humor/Pop Culture is the new killer marketing app, and I'm down with the Starr Tincup platform.
Can I buy stock? No risk, no return. Starr Tincup stock isn't a utility stock. It's a tech play that's either going to be Google or Covad Communications (look it up, circa 2000, so you know that's going to be during the dot com era).
I say Google. Within their niche, of course...
I love William Tincup's tone and writing style. One day, he will leave the HCM marketing space. On that day I will offer to buy him the dinner/drinks of his choice, but only on the condition that he will unload, in his inimitable style, on all of the vendors that he thinks are full of s***, and exactly why. That meal could go on for days.
Unfortunately, he is precluded, for obvious reasons of self interest, from really letting us all know everything on his mind. But I know it's all in his head, dying to get out.
Posted by: TechSphinx | July 13, 2009 at 08:57 AM
Great post. I got to meet William in New Orleans. He is bright dude with post modern HR ideas. Like you, I'd put some money down on Starr Tincup!
Posted by: Michael VanDervort | July 13, 2009 at 11:28 AM
I couldn't have said it better. Being a former intern at Starr Tincup, I can truly back up their cred. I had the opportunity to work directly under William and for those of you who have met him, you can imagine the thick skin I ended up with after my internship. It's an amazing place to work where people are willing to teach - and as a soon to be graduate this Dec. I need all the skills I can get. The site is rockin' and has really brought out who they are as a company, of course they're kick ass at branding so they know what they're doing.
Unfortunately, my time there ended in May long after the revamp but I still love my ST family. In fact, we play competitive kickball on Tuesday and William is still my mentor so there was a slight advantage of selling my soul to them for 5 months…
Posted by: Catherine Bruni | July 13, 2009 at 04:22 PM