Hello Friends,
This diary update is a long one (11.32!) where I repeatedly tell you I haven’t got much to say.
The juice is that Tuesdays are the new Fridays.
I want to keep going with my regular weekly updates. But because of my new crap job being Wed to Saturday morning - Tuesday is going to be the best day to produce something worthwhile for you.
Danny Fucking Price
I talk about Danny Fucking Price’s success on Instagram. And Dan Edelstyn’s success with Power Station and Hoe Street Central Bank. Dan’s book Mini Movies to Millions is available for a fiver. Marketing and audience building is the ‘crap’ work that no artist or movement maker really wants to do. But trust me, it’s better that doing a ‘real’ crap job.
You can watch Dan’s interview with Danny and hear Danny’s ideas about what made him an ‘organic’ success below. Danny comes across as a lovely fella.
#TAKETHETEST
I don’t explain the concept of this very well in the audio - nor do I explain what it is I need to achieve with it in the coming month.
So let me fill in the gaps.
I’ve already run paid social media adverts which feature burning money. They work - in that people react to them. What I’ve not been able to do so far is convert ‘reaction’ into ‘action’.
Previously, I’ve gone from a ‘video of burning money’ directly into ‘buy a ticket for Church of Burn’. There’s been no pathway, no explanation. Basically no seduction at all.
Most (but not all) people who click on an image of burning money will have a negative emotional inclination toward it.
The #TAKETHETEST page attempts to:
(1) Filter out the small proportion of users who may be positively inclined and/or who may become positively inclined in the future.
(2) ‘Turbo’ charge as many negatively inclined users as possible in order that they (negatively) engage and so drive general awareness.
Here’s a reminder of the Strategy Map 2024 for context.
There are two basic elements to the #TAKETHETEST page. The test itself which is basically a multiple choice test and then the answers. Probably easier if I just show you what I’ve come up with so far.
So first imagine that you’ve no idea about Church of Burn. You’re presented with a video of burning money. This is a version of the original video we promoted prior to Church of Burn’s Festival of Money in 2021.
That’s very tame compared to the sort of penetrative media I imagine using going forward. I want to create media that really challenges people. I want to confront them about their conception of money and how this works to shore up capitalism.
After being presented with burning money a user then (hopefully) clicks a #TAKETHETEST link. This offers them the chance to find out ‘what your reaction says about you’.
On clicking the link they’re presented with text something like this;
How do you feel after watching that?
And what does that say about you?Choose one answer that best sums up how you feel about people burning money.
A. It’s a terrible waste. They should give it to charity.
B. These people don’t care about the poor. Shame on them!
C. It’s clickbait. They’re actors and it’s fake money.
D. It’s great. We should all be doing it.
Submit and we’ll tell you whether you passed the test and what your answer says about you .
SUBMIT
It’s tempting to think that everyone will click D because they’ll immediately cotton on to the fact that this is a paid promotion by Church of Burn. But most people are just not paying that much attention. I think A will get most clicks followed by B.
Each answer will lead to a different results page each with an accompanying results video.
For example choosing A will lead to something like this;
Thank you for submitting.
You answered A. “It’s a terrible waste. They should give it to charity. ”
YOU FAILED THE TEST.
Watch the short video to find out why and to learn what your answer says about YOU.
To try again you must first make a donation to Church of Burn,
or admit your failure and share the video on your social media,
or come back in 23 hours.
So I need to make four different results videos. Working out how to ‘pitch’ the results video (and the test itself) is the thing that’s been bugging me.
If you’ve listened to Sermon for the Mycelium or read some of my nitty gritty posts you’ll know that we’ve broken down the negative reactions to money burning into three basic categories;
Why don’t you give it to charity? (aka Foot Soldiers - most numerous ‘active’ complainers)
Shame on you! (aka Zealous Supplicants - loudest complainers)
There must be an explanation for this within the logic of capital. (aka Servants of Utility - by far the largest group but do not actively engage in criticism)
Each ‘results video’ needs to pull the appropriate trigger for it’s particular audience. I want to either convert or inflame. Only non-reaction is failure.
I’ve played with all sorts of ideas about presenting the videos in character. But in the end I think it’ll work best if it’s just me being real.
Although - having said that - I don’t think I should do anything that might dissuade viewers from believing that I’m an actual Reverend of an actual Church (I mean I am a High Priest of a Church). I’ve checked the law and wearing a dog collar and calling myself Reverend Jonathan Harris is legal as long as I don’t set out to defraud anyone.
So scripting and maybe doing a rough take will be this coming week’s job. If I manage to produce something I’ll share it with you next week.
I fluff a mention a couple of books when I have my mini-rant against middle class writers on Substack. Sorry about that. The anti-middle-class writers stuff, I mean. Defo got a bee in my bonnet about that at the moment. It’s probably just me being a jealous fool.
Anyway the books. Working for Ford by Huw Beynon and Japan in the Passing Lane by Satoshi Kamata. That’s what I was trying to remember. Ethnographies of life on a production line.
That’s all for now. Hopefully see you this time next week with some attempts at a results video. I best order a dog-collar now.
Jon
Xx
Agreed, marketing is so tough lately. I don't think most people realise how important it is to let creators know their work is being enjoyed!