Monday, 7/13

There. I think I have my “brand”.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I was talking about how I seem to do too many things to give myself a “brand”, a 2-5 word statement that describes me and what I do. You know, like Loraine's “That World War II Lady”. Well, after shooting some stuff with other people for the “Third Street: Day & Night” video and telling them a few stories (including the Adams Hotel fruit basket story mentioned last week), one of the people gave me what might be my brand.

What did she say? She said, and I quote, “you're the funniest guy in history”.

Hmm. “The Funniest Guy in History”. Well, it DOES fall into the two to five five word limit for a branding statement. It IS pithy and memorable. And aside from the fact that it's wildly inaccurate and way too narcissistic for me, I suppose it could work.

8-)

First of all, she did not mean that I was the funniest person who ever lived...you know, the funniest person in all of history. I wouldn't even come in the top 500 million of that category. What she meant (and had to explain to me after she realized what she had said) was that I was the funniest person she's ever heard talking about history. You know, “history” as in an academic subject, and not “history”, as in “of all time”. In all honesty, I sure there have been many funnier people than I talking about historical subjects. But I do appreciate the thought.

I guess looking for the strange and the absurd in local history has paid off in at least one way.

So while I appreciate the thought, I don't think “The funniest guy in history” will become my branding statement any time soon. I'm still trying to figure out how to combine Radio Jim and History Jim and TV Jim and Traveling Jim and just Plain Jim in to one pithy statement, but with no luck yet. Daily blog reader Kate of Marquette did have a suggestion after my original post a few weeks ago. She said I should just call myself “Renaissance Jim, the Renaissance Man”, which I suppose could work if real renaissance people like Leonardo Da Vinci or Thomas Jefferson or Bono hadn't set the bar so high.

Ah well; it was just a thought experiment to begin with. Maybe I don't really need a “brand” to be who I am. Although, I have to admit, it probably WOULD be neat to hand out business cards that say “Jim Koski, the Funniest Guy in History”.

Maybe in a another life...

(jim@wmqt.com)