Art Burshy and I visited some geeks that claimed to make killer-Apps for iPhones, smartphones, drones and all modern shit you can imagine.
Art wants them to develop an App for him that sells his stories and art works.
The geek company claimed: "we do anything to make your App a success"
So I asked..."could you give me an example"
And as you can see in the drawing they claimed they created the financial crisis to sell their Risk Management App.
He gave us a 10 minute lecture on the steps they had taken using a multidisciplinary approach:
- deepest motivation of people being greed and fear
- press being focused on amplifying any series of incidents, not having the time or interest to really understand
- using the cognitive dissonance of the crowd, not wanting to see how much themselves they have unrealistic expectations and are at the heart of being manipulated by populist salespeople and politicians
- the role of ego: when income get better we easily adjust, but when it gets a little worse we start to look for a culprit; as if the world is created for us to continuously have better conditions, even if we screw it up...
There I stopped the ranting geek, and Art started explaining what he had in mind for his Art Burshy App.
The goofy guy listened for a few minutes, but you could see in his face he had trouble to choose between falling asleep or brutally interrupting our friend Art.
He finally stopped Art by raising his hand and launching a big sigh from his mouth:
"Sure, nice idea, but your way of selling sucks...You should:
1. Understand better how your target audience sees Art Burshy, the stories and the paintings - what their filter is when looking at the world
2. What it brings to them, where it helps them. Do they like it because they like the humour, or because it triggers them to reflect, or because it presents a view of life too bizarre to even consider
3. How to convey a sales pitch of the App showing what it brings them, presented in their own language and 'filter'
4. Just increase reality to the absurd - present it as ridiculously great, dangerously funny, and more
5. And if they really don't need your App...? Just fake it...
I saw Art think...a frown on his face...
On the way back we thought about the absurdity of the whole story...
Or was the goofy geek right...?
We started thinking of new ways to approach:
Actually, why would anybody want our App or even need it...
initially the whole Art Burshy stories had been created for ourselves, just for fun...
not just for others to like...
Sure, there are some vague benefits for people:
- laughing is good for anything, isn't it...
- art comforts when people are sad
- stories allow you to escape from your own misery for a moment...
But does our audience need comforting and escape from reality ...?
So, I guess we have nothing left but faking the 'fantastic' things the Art Burshy App brings you:
"You will feel instantly happy when reading the Art Burshy App"
Or should we pay people to like his App and to recommend it:
"Since I read Art Burshy's App I reflect much more on life and work... it changed my life!"
"I can keep reading Art's stories... every time I discover new layers and can't stop laughing"
or maybe a bit more extreme...
"I had a severe depression... and Art Burshy pulled me out"
- Art Burshy is deep humour for intelligent people
... so if you do not understand the humour... you just might not be so clever
Really...?
Maybe best is just to stay close to our initial objectives:
- offer the Art Burshy App as a weird artistic creation for FREE
- be happy with anybody understanding our humour or appreciating the weird angles and views
Then Art Burshy interrupted our reflections:
"So then we are back where we started... no successful sales story but just a bunch of losers... but at least we love what we do...."
