December 21, 2006
unique currency
I’m thinking a lot these days about what I call “Unique Currency”.
Background: With what I’m doing doing professionally, the Stormhoek story isn’t just about the wine in the bottle. It’s a hybrid. It’s also about the blogger dinners, the Thresher virus, the Techcrunch prints etc etc.
This allows us to have something rather unique in the marketplace. Wine plus Hughtrain equals something unique to trade.
“Unique Currencies” are a good thing to have. Without it my business would be dead. Indeed.
So fast forward to earlier this week. I was talking to an old advertising buddy of mine, Eric, who left the business over 10 years ago to pursue a career in TV animation.
To make a long story short, after a decade in the business he’s contemplating leaving it altogether, and going back into advertising. He feels he’s gotten everything out of TV that he wanted, and thinks there’s some opportunities in the ad business that he could make good use of.
So I said to Eric, “Well, above all else use something from what you’ve learned in the TV business, in order to create your own ‘unique currency’ within the ad industry. Otherwise you’re just one more schmuck advertising creative over the age of 35, looking for a gig. The market is already flooded with those guys. And they rarely have an easy time of it. There’s just too many people chasing advertising work out there. Brutal. Miserable. Don’t even think of going there.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Eric.
Whatever business you work in, whether you’re an employee or have your own business, you have a currency that you trade in. The more unique your currency, the easier time you’ll have of things. And no, we’re not talking “money”, “labor” or “service”.
We’re talking about something far more indirect and mysterious. This is what The Global Microbrand is all about.
I think “Unique Currency” matters more and more in the circles I travel in. You?
Nice metaphor, Hugh. Much better than “Unique Selling Proposition” or even “Value Proposition”, both of which can lead people down the wrong track in defining what they really have to offer. And “currency” implies exchange, a give-and-take interaction, rather than a “here’s what I’m about”. It’s much more positive and forward-going.
But the double-edge of “currency” is that you need someone (or lots of someones) with whom to exchange that currency. It’s not enough to just “be” … which may be fodder for another post on how to propagate one’s Unique Currency.
Cheers!
Would unique currency be another term for branding of the personality? Which I suppose makes a brand a Microbrand? And throw in the Web, and then you’re global.
Crudely put, to sell yourself?
How much does the “uniqueness” of currency depend on the distance between the areas from which other parts of the hybrid are made?
Does Stormhoek benefit most because you’re working through your marketing experience and spanning the fairly large gap to wine-making?
Will advertising benefit as much when Eric is spanning the fairly narrow gap from his experience in TV?
Would Eric’s currency be intrinsically more unique if he chose a target further off, like selling briar pipes or designing menus for chic restaurants?
Or is uniqueness grown on something else entirely?
Ultimately Hugh, I think your artwork will hang on the walls of great museums because it is still your most unique currency.
I think a lot about what my unique currency is for the long term. And more and more I think it ultimately will be a product that I think of that is based on all of the experience to date.
Because in the end effect, it would be nice to be able to retire one day and know that whatever it is I created is still providing value to people while i am off dancing on a beach somewhere.
Hugh — love you to bits. Stop being an arse, Talk straight.
Dennis, love you to bits. Stop being an arse. You know exactly what I’m talking about
Hey BL
Jeremy, the “uniqueness” depends on how many other people are doing/not doing it, and for what reasons.
This makes perfect sense. And it’s about finding a way to cross pollinate and cross learn all the things we experience throughout a career/life and make it *the* thing.
You know, the secret to life? The *one* thing that expresses the sum of all that you’ve become in a way that is just you and nobody else.
For Hugh, it’s the card *and* the writing style, *and* the Stormoek, *and* the commentary on a tech conference — they all radiate Hugh, loud and clear.
What is it for you?
Yes, a function of personal experience,… AND love. The way you love is the way you portray yourself, and that is unique for every individual. Love for yourself and then for everyone else you interact with. Just like you integrate a function in Math to add up all the area it covers, you integrate your love to find out the value you bring to the table…
That´s how ¨The Love Mark Backlash¨ will begin Hugh…
Hugh,
Something is either unique (one of a kind) or it is not — ‘rather unique’ does not exist. Similarly, ‘quite unique’ and ‘very unique’ don’t work, but are widely used descriptions nowadays, particularly in the media. I like your stuff a lot and don’t mean to sound like an anal pedant, but plenty of good creative work is let down by sloppy use of language.
Cheers,
Simon
Simon, if not sounding like an anal pendant was your intention, you failed
Some thoughts from here, too, Hugh : wandering
between the links of this page ( http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1306&s=news ), I bumped into the, presumably, “Best Food and Wine Store” category in South Africa’s e-commerce.
To my shock, Stormhoek was not even mentioned on the list of local wineries at wine-selling sites…
Do you think this is the ultimate level of global microbrand, anonymous at home even when well known
outside ?
I’d like to here what you think.
Daniel
Hugh, of course that’s what uniqueness depends on … that’s how it’s defined. But how is it attained?
The guy you’re making fun of above has a point — you sort of suggested a gradient of uniqueness. You described something as “more unique”. I’m not caring about any definitional failure — but is more unique just fewer others for better reasons?
Or is it better hybrids? Slicker mixes?
You’re pointing at something worth understanding. You might be highlighting something most people don’t consider so explicitly. You might have a point here that’s worth far more than the few paragraphs you’ve given it until now.
You said you’ve been thinking a lot — how deep does “a lot” actually go?
I appreciate the unique currency concept.
In Canada we minted a $3 coin. Most Canadians don’t even know about it and it is a good way to win a cheap bar bet. I carry the coin in my pocket…it was probably more valuable in its plastic minted numbered case but I believe it needs to be in circulation.
We also have a 3-headed quarter in Canada. If you flip a coin it always comes up heads.
Your currency work, 500 word manifesto collection, and business card art are rich resources.
Thanks.
Hey Jeremy, “a lot” starts kicking in once it starts turning into action, as opposed to just yappin’ on about it.
There’s a famous fictional line from a stereotypical French bureaucrat:
“Well, your idea may work in practice, however sadly it doesn’t work in theory.”
Welcome to the blogosphere
Stormhoek is not anonymous at home, Daniel. At least, not in SA wine circles.
Secondly, Stormhoek is mainly export market, not domestic. We don’t really market it in SA.
Techtonic’s lack of mojo is not my problem