| >> I believe you can learn a lot from this. |
| This is Duwayne ‘Dada’ Mills, the CEO of Crown Recordings. He’s quite a guy. I can tell you that you have to be quite a guy to succeed in the music industry. I know this because 4 members of my family have been heavily involved over the years, and I’m good friends with one of the top record producers in LA. Enough about me. Duwayne has worked with Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin, so why on earth was he working with Shell Oil? The element of surprise is the most important thing in coming up with a great idea. Great ideas don’t come from thinking the same way as everyone else, nor do they come from trying to be deliberately different, which often ends up with you doing something ludicrous. Duwayne went into music. But more recently he went into the oil business. Shell wanted to highlight inventors to promote themselves as good people. They founded a company called Pavgen which has a tile that converts the weight of footsteps into energy. Here’s what he said about it… “There was a university in Lagos, Nigeria, that needed a new soccer field and didn’t have lights for the field, so they couldn’t play any night games. We rebuilt the soccer field, including new lights so they could play at night. They placed the tiles under the turf so as the players run up and down the field the tiles produce energy that converts into electricity to power the new lights on the soccer field.” Then he brought in a global superstar and a famous DJ, and together they wrote and launched a single and a music video to accompany the project. “We then premiered the music video on Facebook and got over 50 million views in one day. The video and song had millions of views on YouTube and streams collectively. It actually went to No. 3 on Billboard.” The person who interviewed him asked how he had become so successful. He said… “I can’t say there is one thing that makes me a successful entrepreneur because I have had so many different successes. I do believe that wisdom has a lot to do with it though. I believe you can grow wiser from paying attention and learning from the wins and failures of not just your own, but also the wins and failures of others. I think a man that truly pays attention gains more wisdom than his years entitle him to.” In the marketing industry there’s a startling lack of wisdom. People are like sheep or gathering swine down the nearest cliff. Look elsewhere, don’t follow the herd. But before you do that learn the principles of marketing. It’s a business of amateurs. There are university courses that aim to teach you but in my experience most people involved in that fit well into George Bernard Shaw’s phrase… “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” Don’t be one who cannot – start studying now. A good place to start studying is Ask Drayton. Have a look. Best, Drayton P.S. Know anyone who’d appreciate my Bird Droppings? Tell them to sign up to my mailing list here. |
