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Baseball writer Craig Calcaterra was checking in on his 16-year-old daughter to see if she had any homework left to finish. Instead, he found this hand drawn map that, let’s just say, reinvisioned how North, Central and South America are structured.
Among the highlights:
- The Four Corners have been replaced by Ohio 2, a tiny state shaped exactly like Ohio. It is the new national capitol.
West Virginia is now Virginia. Virginia is now East Virginia.
- New Hampshire and Vermont have been combined into New Hampsmont.
- Wyoming has been deemed unnecessary, and removed.
When Calcaterra’s tweet about it went viral, he texted his daughter, telling her that people had questions about her map. Mostly existential questions, like “...w--why” and “b--huh?”
She responded, “They’re not asking that about our current map though, are they?”
A common piece of advice given by marketers is, “Think outside the box.” These same marketers also tell you to “follow best practices.” But sometimes best practices are ripe for revisiting.
We tend not to question truisms because, well, truth is in the name. But truths that are viewed as unassailable are not always that way, especially in marketing. Let yourself ask, “Do I actually have to think about this that way?” when faced with a truism.
Let’s consider some current “truths” being tested and found out to be less-true than before. Clubhouse asks, “Is video actually better”? Defector asks, “Why can’t the entire staff own equal shares of a media company.” Bite Toothpaste asks, “Does toothpaste have to be paste?”
It’s hard to challenge the status quo, but if you’re willing to take a leap and look for “universal truths” that might not be so universal, you might find there’s more territory to be discovered or explored.
And while we don’t expect to start seeing “East Dakota” on any maps, the more you let yourself question something that “always has been true” the more likely you are to find that, maybe it’s not.
~ From Jeff, and The Team at Clique
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