smarter wine
I’ve been a fan of gapingvoid cartoonist Hugh MacLeod ever since I read his essay on "How to be Creative". He’s a former advertising copywriter who started doodling incendiary cartoons on the backs of business cards and then gained a loyal blog following posting them online.
He advocates what he calls "The Sex & Cash Theory" that says "the creative person basically has two kinds of jobs. One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. The tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended." Hugh advises to keep your day job, and let if fund your creative projects.
So, I was interested to discover his groundbreaking marketing work at Stormhoek, a small South African vineyard. All the Web 2.0 stuff he learned from his cartooning + blogging, he’s applying to Stormhoek. In late 2005, he created a "100 Blogging Dinners in 100 Days" event, with this brochure, and sales doubled in less than twelve months. It’s now increased five-fold, with this series of marketing milestones, including wine labels that feature his cartoons. I like how he frames his approach to marketing in this Smarter Wine manifesto.
It looks like Hugh found a way to transcend that "tense duality" of Sex & Cash he wrote about earlier. As another cartoonist who works in marketing, I find this inspiring.
