We hate to admit it but we are all seeking approval from those that we care about.

The trouble is, that in my field of Digital Marketing, there are so few people that know what I do – including my own family. To be fair to them, I find myself explaining the finer details of Digital Marketing to 95% of the actual brand directors out there too. But that’s for another blog entry.

Email me at ah@thehorncorp.com if you want to hear the finer details for yourself.

And my family does know a few things. For example, they know that I worked with Bob Costas at NBC and that I have won Emmy Awards. However, in conversation, they tend to approach my work in a wide, sweeping arc, hoping to grope around in the dark for the light switch. I’ve told them many times, I have a company that works on finding intelligent ways for brands to use their advertising budgets with new forms of digital content for the web, mobile phones and even the social medias. Blank stares. Part of the problem is that my wife is a Family Doctor, so people will typically assume a greater comfort level in predicting her daily grind.

Occasionally, I will get someone who THINKS they know. When I still worked at NBC Sports they might try to look smart by asking, “Why didn’t I see you singing by the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in the commercial?” My response, “No Aunt Lucy, that is the local news station WNBC. I work at NBC Sports.” The next week, “Is Katie Couric a real witch? That Matt Lauer looks like a real nice man.” My response, “A) Again, that’s news and B) From what I hear, Katie is very difficult. Although who am I to say for sure given that I don’t work with her?”

Then, once in a blue moon, someone hits one on the head. In August, The Horn Corp produced and streamed the Global Finals for the World of WarCraft tournament at BlizzCon. The game is played by over 11 million fans worldwide, including Vin Diesel and Jimmy Fallon. It is also set to be made into a blockbuster film by Spiderman Director Sam Raimi, but this weekend I got a call from my mother-in-law teacher who giddily reported that several kids in her class had heard of World of WarCraft. Bing bing bing bing. It was as if she had just won both showcases on “The Price is Right” and to me it was a big deal too because in the “business” of family affirmation, the rule is take it when THEY get it…

Tagged as: Bob Costas, digital, Katie Couric, marketing, NBC, NBC Sports

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Marketing Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.