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Relative Fame: Concentric Circles of Decreasing Awareness
October 1, 2007
Do you know who John Force is? How about the UFC? How much do you know about Barry Bonds, Hillary Clinton’s health care plan or Hulk Hogan? If we could group all of you based on your level of knowledge of each we would find concentric circles of decreasing awareness emanating outward from the center where each subject would be found. The closer to the center the more you know about the topic while conversely, the further away you are the less you know (and by definition, the more of you there are.) Moreover which ring of each circle you are in would depend upon the topic; for example maybe you’d be further out from the John force center while closer in on the Hillary health plan center.
This is Relative Fame and we all have it to varying degrees, in most all cases, diminishing over time no matter how great it might have once been. For those of you who don’t know John Force is a drag racer, arguably the most famous ever and beyond a shadow of a doubt, drag racing’s best promoter bar none. John is to drag racing what Elvis was to rock and roll, Pong was to video games, Marilyn Monroe was to blonds. What the Earth is to planets, Washington to presidents and Jesus to religious figures.
Notice that the first three examples are listed past tense whereas the next three are all present tense. That is my way of guessing that as well known as Elvis, Pong and Marilyn were and still are, the longevity of their fame will be less than that of the Earth, Washington and Jesus. I may be wrong but I can see a beautiful blond coming along someday who becomes more famous than Marilyn just as Marilyn’s fame outstripped that of Mae West. But I doubt we will see a planet more famous than Earth at least as far as humans are concerned.
What is your company’s and product’s Relative Fame? Who knows what about you, how many knowledgeable people are there and what do you have to do to increase and maintain awareness among a larger number of people? Questions to ponder lest you become the next Pong.
Posted by Bill Matthies on October 1, 2007 | Comments (0)
