You’re a brand and you want to interact with me digitally (namely via some social media piece)? Good, great, I’m all for it. Become the Stain on the Ceiling in my Shower.

I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen the billboards, I’ve seen the commercials. I’ve had the popups (and blocked them), walked by motion triggers in Walmart, even been served something similar to what my mom just wrote me in an email. Truthfully – I don’t even see/hear/feel anything anymore (jeez, that sounds horrible doesn’t it?)

You want to be affective? Become the Stain on the Ceiling in my Shower. Show up and I’ll notice you. Don’t get worse, or else I’ll paint over you. Be there; be something I can deal with; become part of my every day. Most days I won’t pay attention to you. Some days I’ll look at you and subconsciously think that you look an awful lot like what’s-that-country-called-in-Africa. Believe it or not, this adds value to my day. Get me used to seeing you, but don’t drip on my recently-shampood head.

What you want to do is get to the point where, were you gone, I’d miss you. Remember, you’re not an aggressive stain. You’re not growing, peeling or molding. You’re just there. You actually add value to my life by making me think, by adding color to my sometimes-all-to-white-shower-ceiling and by sharing with me things only a stain could know. When you’re at this point, you can affect me and call me to action, subtly, but remember, I have tolerance for you now.

Had you done this on day one, I’d have had the spackle out and we wouldn’t have shared those intimate steamy moments together. You wouldn’t have been able to gain the insight that you have (wink) and I wouldn’t have looked to you for inspiration and (don’t tell my creative or purchasing managers this) answers.

Get it? Now go Become the Stain on the Ceiling in Someone’s Shower and develop that relationship that you might not be used to, but that allows you into a world of a steamed up glass door, not the one-way mirror of the focus group room.

Of note: “No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant” – Warren Buffett

@NickSeguin