Multiplicity: Why Copying Copies is a Bad Idea

This video appeared in my inbox today. The headline is really what grabbed me: "Why you shouldn't copy someone else's marketing." I like this series a lot and recommend signing up for their regular podcast. A recent episode on video and audio file resources is particularly good.

This particular five minute conversation about copying marketing campaigns isn't tied specifically to the arts and appears to be more business-to-business sales focused. But it raised something I find with arts clients (and potential clients) all the time: our field tends to copy ourselves and those around us.

If the film Multiplicity taught me anything, it's that I love Michael Keaton. If it taught me a second thing, it's that making a copy-of-a-copy, and certainly a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy typically yields diminishing and sometimes disastrous results.

So if you take anything from this brief blog post and article above, it's this: be authentic in your marketing work. Yes, look around for best practices from inside and outside of our field, but also adapt them for your specific goals and to communicate in your or your organization's own unique voice.

This is a lesson I certainly can certainly apply more often and I hope you can too.