[The Cube Grenade that Kula Partners commissioned me to draw for them. You can download it here and print it out etc.]
My Best Pick-Up Line Ever.
During the dotcom boom in early 2000, I was out in Los Angeles for six months, working for a startup, renting a house in Venice, near the beach. The usual…
One night I was at a big party in the Hollywood Hills, with my friend Colin, and his girlfriend, Amy.
Colin and Amy were a nice couple. Colin was a bit of a clown and a rogue, but pretty lovable. Amy was a real sweetheart, and cute as a button.
The party was pretty typical LA: a large herd of twenty and thirty-somethings wandering around rather aimlessly on the make, trying to score romance and/or useful business and social contacts. We’ve all been there…
About one a.m. Colin and Amy approach me.
“Ready to drive back to Venice?” asks Colin.
“Sure, not a problem,” I say. “This scene blows.”
Suddenly, this other cute girl comes up.
“Excuse me,” she says. “Are you going to Venice? Would you mind dropping me off on your way home? My ride already left an hour ago. I live just off Santa Monica Blvd…”
Sure, no problem.
So there we were, driving home, the four of us. Colin and Amy in the front, me and the cute girl– her name was Cindi– in the back.
The car was a late-1960s silver Rolls Royce; similar to the kind John Lennon had. Colin had bought it for a song the year previously.
The back seat was huge– Colin and Amy were probably four feet in front of Cindi and I, making in hard to talk to them without shouting. Besides that, Colin and Amy were already lost in conversation, the radio was playing pretty loudly, so Cindi and I just carried on by ourselves, talking to each other.
It was a fun conversation. Cindi was smart, funny and delightful company. I can’t remember what the conversation was about– just the usual young single’s LA banter, I suppose.
We’re talking away, when suddenly I interrupted her quite suddenly.
“Hmmmm…” I say, “You’re kinda cool… I’m kinda cool…”
A slight pause.
“We should kiss!” I exclaim, rather jokingly.
Cindi looks at me for a moment, says nothing, then suddenly leans over and plants a big one on the ol’ lips. Hurrah!
I won’t tell you what happened after that, only to say that, with Colin being the biggest gossip-monger on the planet, for the next few months I couldn’t go into my local bar in Venice without one the barflies jokingly saying, “You’re kinda cool… I’m kinda cool… We should kiss!” every time I walked by.
The thing had gone viral at the bar. A few years later the bar’s owner told me that the regulars still liked to use it at the bar, when they wanted to tease a friend. It had become a legend. Thanks Colin! Heh.
Don’t worry, I didn’t really come here to tell you about my love life.
I was just thinking earlier today about how this story relates to Cube Grenades. Seriously. Hear me out:
Cube Grenades aren’t designed to work like traditional advertising messages.
“Here’s why you should buy my product” would be a bit like me saying to Cindi in the back of the car, “Here are my recent bank statements and a compete list of all my former sexual partners; would you like to go bed with me…?” Human beings are far too sophisticated for that attitude. It wouldn’t have worked with Cindi, why would it work on our customers?
The way the Cube Grenade works, is more like a gift, a social gesture. “You’re kinda cool… I’m kinda cool…” i.e. a social object that expresses the idea, “I’m into the same things you’re into.”
And I’m starting to think more and more, as marketing gets more and more about The Social, the ability to make these kind of “You’re kinda cool… I’m kinda cool…” social gestures with one’s market is going to get increasingly important. Just sayin’.
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The New Republic
Len Schlesinger
Seth Godin
Brian Clark
Love the social gesture thing. Isn’t it the stories of events like this that make the event far more meaningful? Metadata for making out as it were. My favourite chat up line was heard in a taxi rank at 4 in the morning in Liverpool — imagine this spoken in a sharp Liverpudlian accent — “Hey girl, wanna go halves on a baby?” The guy was called Leon. We named a cat after him.
Seems to be an updated conception of a timeless human bond that dates back to ancient Greece — pathos, or empathy.
And this is why the little global microbrands have a pretty cool advantage in this new marketing environment… the ability to connect in a real human voice that doesn’t have to be cleared with legal.
Convincing argument. Well played.
Top Stuff.
“Gesture” is such a great word — it’s tangible and all-too-human.
The only question still on my mind now is whatever happened to Cindi?
This is why “Ignore Everybody” is the holiday present I gave to all of my clients this year. Hugh is nothing if not provocative – but he’s somehow able to make you think and laugh at the same time.
Hugh, you’re right – You really ARE kinda cool!
Put the same scene in the back of a Suburu and tell me if the outcome is the same…
I doubt you fit the “kinda cool” category if you are hitting on women in the back of a Subaru.
funny story! i guess you meant ‘complete list’
Hello from Spain!! You inspire to find a better way to be a better person, to build something that matter. And above all you make me think in a funny artfully way. Thank you
Are you sure the Rolls Royce had nothing to do with it?
Seriously though, atmosphere and delivery play a huge part. How do you replicate that user by user if they are in separate places?
Just got your newsletter notice about your new exclusive Tribe approach to the cartoons, etc. MISTAKE!
The web didn’t get crowded, you let your elitism blind you to the only aspect of blogs that mattered.
Line crossed. No longer appealing.
Rock on.
Sorry you don’t approve, Shelly. But I always knew there’d be reactions like yours, so no worries.
So far I’ve received over 150 emails from my list subscribers– ALL very supportive.
Of course it’s the same. As long as Hugh is a girl. Lesbians are people, too.
New to this idea of social objects. As I understand it a products value correlates to it’s ability to generate conversation and social interaction. Hmmm.…intersting. I like my tampoons doesn’t mean I want to talk about them. In fact, I bet you wish I wouldn’t.
Too late. You just did
hello, my name is Ponch, and I really like this one Hugh. Sure I learn not just the pick up lines but how you manage to express what you feel and just let it flow, I guess it’s not as easy as people thought though.. It’s almost like improvising the musical ideas and enjoy the jam. cheers
Awesome story. I guess starting something is always great, seeing it live on is even greater. The idea does bother me a little though. Here’s why: when you’re selling a product to the general public, there’s no doubt about it, this is a great way to do it. However when you’re dealing with resellers, to me it’s rather stupid that i have to resort to same methods. I always thought that when working with other business owners you talk numbers, because it’s business, that’s what matters, in the end all you want is to grow and live on the market. I guess i was disappointed a few years ago when i started, but who knows, maybe one day numbers will be what i talk about.