5 Things I Learned Doorknocking in WI
+ print is for rich people & an AI tool that says it like it is
A friend (hey Jen!) and I doorknocked for 2 consecutive weekends in small town neighborhoods and in a rural development in Wisconsin. Here’s what I took away:
1. Many households are split.
As we’re reading in the news (and this very newsletter), it’s frequent that in hetero households the male votes Trump and the woman does not.
I saw one guy emerge from the (open) garage to rip a lit drop off a doorknob I’d placed moments earlier for the woman of the house.
There are plenty of day-to-day and lifestyle ripples possible from that. You do wonder what will happen on election night, as we know relationship and other violence surges on NFL and college football game days.
2. Assume nothing.
We spoke to elderly men on riding lawnmowers and tooling away in their garages that said protecting abortion rights are their #1 issue.
While broad generalizations always make marketing easier, the outliers are the opportunity.
Pro Tip: This is true in your marketing category as well.
3. If you target red state or working Americans, your marketing is probably too quiet.
Until recently Small Town, USA was about being neighborly, respect for others and putting children and old folks first. If you have the f-word or bull#$@5 flying on your front lawn, not sure you can still say that.
The Main Street and farm fields we see elegaically championed in farm, bank, food and Budweiser commercials still live, but they are getting festooned with harsher stuff. There will always be a place for nostalgic marketing as it’s how people WANT to see themselves. But your day to day marketing may need to ramp up to something who appeals like this (see the FUCK YOUR FEELINGS flag beneath Old Glory)
SOUND OFF!! Note scale vs buildings and vehicles.
As we’ve seen in rallies and podcasters, the coarseness and shock value is likely to permeate through a lot of spaces. It’s just the tenor of a large part of the country now.
4. Reminder: Subcultures rule and code-switching matters.
For those not in the upper midwest: there’s a border rivalry here. Decades before MAGA, Wisconsin folks were long aware that Minnesotans consider them lower class.
As a WI native, I knew to park so folks would not see a MN license plate. I saw volunteers walk into the Wisconsin volunteer office wearing MN Democratic pins.
Yesterday a friend asked what I wore to door knock, and it is something I thought about a lot.
I was careful not to appear too city, too crunchy, too well-off or too casual.
Jen wore a bracelet made of crosses, smart move.
I joked around with a couple of older male Trump supporters on the street as I walked along. All in good fun. This is learned behavior from Wisconsin bar culture which, along with the Packers, is the shared language of the state.
It doesn’t have to be ugly to be competitive.
To build rapport in business or life, it helps to come to people as they are.
5. The last three WI elections were decided by 3 votes per polling place.
As it is in E-commerce: Conversion is everything.
The first volunteer office gave us that nugget. We asked why this wasn’t the headline on every single literature packet. It led every conversation I had.
The Democratic Party at large is terrible at messaging. Outside the first Obama campaign, it been tragic for years.
Infusing people with their personal impact, their personal concerns is always more potent than slathering them with messages they have tuned out and literally tossed into their trash cans 5x already.
Pro Tip: This is true in your marketing category as well.
The Biggest Takeaway?
People want to be heard. When I told friends I was doing it, there were comments like “I hope you don’t get shot,” or “I’d be scared.”
I had a great time, and a few conversations that will stick with me for a while, like the convo with this lady.
The truth is, people want to be heard. They want a civil conversation. They want to feel like their experience matters. They want a thank you, an acknowledgment, a sign that they aren’t alone.
Gen X Men: Most Likely to Think Women Have It Easy
45% of Gen X men agree “women have an easier time getting ahead than men”
Contrasting with:
30% of all Americans
18% Gen X women
Here’s more from Jessica Grose on about how GenX nihilism, individualism and suspicion of authority have made GenX Gen Trump.
I think there’s more than a little mid-life crisis rage mixed in, too.
Are Print Magazines the Quiet Luxury of Media?
Bezos has the Washington Post (who lost 8% of their subscriptions in the past few days, BTW)
Karlie Kloss is bringing back niche (British) editorial with I-D and Face.
Amanda Mull has a fabulous piece on how print magazines can flourish as a luxury good and definitely a way to reach the monied class.
The antithesis of a FYP, print is quiet, personal, pre-curated and meant to be luxuriated over with a coffee, wine or beach chair.
Nylon, Field & Stream and other audience-specific media titles have revived their print versions this year. Super niche pubs like the Bitter Southerner, Cherry Bombe are building out higher dollar print offerings. JCrew brought back the catalog.
I have long missed the thrill of grabbing a huge stack of glossy magazines to read on a plane or beach chair. HEAVEN. But I’m also the generation that flipped through the same Seventeen magazine 20x. There’s nothing like a gorgeously shot editorial photo on a big shiny page. The ephemeral of social doesn’t stick the same way.
I predict a big glossy broadsheet from Rhode and/or Skims, like the A+F massive books of yesteryear.
Are you using more print in your mix?
PDF to Brainrot (that’s actually the name)
PDF to BrainRot will turn any PDF into a video. A good video? Don’t know but I fear for the attention span of the next generations and corporate middle managers everywhere.
OK, I fear for all of us.
The May-December Older Woman Movie Trend is Going Lesbian
First Anne Hathaway. Laura Dern and Liam. Nicole’s upcoming ladyboss S&M takedown1 Babygirl
Now Uma and Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton are shooting a movie based on the f2f love affair that inspired Rebecca.
My cultural reading, may not be accurate
Such a wonderful, helpful, inspiring breath of fresh air, this post. Thank you. 💜💜💜
“print is quiet, personal, pre-curated and meant to be luxuriated over with a coffee, wine or beach chair.”… yes they are!! I love this take. You’ve inspired me to reconsider print.