The Fiddlers of the Endemic

I need to start with a confession.

This week, I was out in Chicago meeting with most of the Mediaocean marketing team in person for the first time.

At a dueling piano bar after dinner following a full day of meetings, I found a pad of song request sheets and started writing a column on the back. When I was done, the notes looked like this:

I desperately wanted to make the column work, but it didn’t. And that’s why this newsletter got delayed and almost didn’t go out this week.

Still, during a holiday that Jewish people around the world associate closely with spring cleaning, literally and spiritually, I thought it may be liberating for some readers if I got that off my Semitic, hirsute chest.

This is a liberation holiday too.

But, it’s a lot of cleaning.

Here are a few of the notes that worked, or almost worked, or didn’t but deserve some exploration:

—

My colleague approached me at the piano bar while I was writing the column.

“Is it too chaotic for you?” he asked.

“No,” I told him. “It’s not chaotic enough.”

I added those quotes to the request sheets, which included most of this column’s notes, along with two alternate titles:

“The Fiddlers of the Endemic”

and

“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant Afterparty.”

—

The notes for the column dive into the idea of willful ignorance, which I have mixed feelings about during more sober reflection. (“Sober” is referenced literally and figuratively, though not spiritually, unless you are referring to the spirit limoncello. If so, I’m taking a shot at spiritual reflection several times over.)

The core of the willful ignorance idea is alright; it’s just not novel. We have to shut off some of our fear and even rationality if we find a greater good in connecting with fellow humans face-to-face while Covid cases rise yet again.

Shifting to an endemic phase, one that needs to be supported by a robust vaccination campaign and other public health measures, isn’t all that original of an idea, and “willful ignorance” seemed overly harsh.

There were some attempts in the notes where I wanted to “tie in the Covid pandemic and return to normalcy with what marketers are so good at” (from my scrap paper), “pretending what’s real isn’t real” and “going with what we want to believe.”

There’s a line I like: “We are the serial marketers always chasing what’s better.”

A lot of this doesn’t make a ton of sense though. “If ever an era there was to give birth for a new breed of marketer, this is it.”

That could be written every single day with some reason to justify why someone’s writing it now.

There are so many straw man arguments in those late-night notes that it wouldn’t take a wolf to blow the house down; an asthmatic puppy could do it.

—

My favorite section, for various reasons, describes how at times the risks during the pandemic feel like we’re fiddling while Rome burns, but we’re also the fiddlers on the roof.

We’re “fiddling in the sorrow and the hints of the future in the eradication of the past.”

Yes, I wrote that at the bar.

As the spring renewal holidays are in full force, coinciding with Ramadan which this year gets to join the metaphor (welcome to the party; help yourself to some dyed eggs and chococate-covered matzo after sundown), the fiddler is an apt symbol of that shift from the pandemic to the endemic, whenever that shift actually happens.

There’s so much worth fiddling about, but sometimes it’s easier than others to feel like we can find our balance up on the roof.

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and Ramadan Kareem to all readers celebrating.

—

A reader told me this week that he enjoyed when I’d ask at the end of these missives, “What are you making of yourself?”

I may have dropped that from most editions, but I always want to hear the answer, so whenever you are up for sharing it, I’d love to know what you’re making of yourself these days.

David

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WHAT TO WATCH & READ:
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Recent content shared by Serial Marketers and friends:

• Terry Collins at USA Today shares how long subject lines should be, how to keep your pitch brief, and make it engaging — by OnePitch
• The AdForum PHNX Awards 2022 are accepting entries. I even get to judge them this year, so let me judge you. Submit entries now.
• W&L’s Anne Riter ’22 Awarded Fulbright to Austria by Erica Turman
• Kargo Buys Parsec To Build Attention-Based Mobile Currency by Anthony Vargas

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Keep checking out the #jobs channel in Serial Marketers for more. Better yet, subscribe to get updates from our job listing board. Here are some great opportunities shared in these places or sent to me directly.

ADEN & ANAIS, INC.
Demand Planner
Remote
Via Lindsay in the community
“Aden & Anais, Inc. is looking for a strong and confident professional with a proven track record in forecast and demand planning for a consumer products business. Headquartered in New York City with over 60 employees around the world, Aden & Anais, Inc. is a privately-held, global lifestyle baby care company comprised of two industry-leading brands, aden + anais™ and HALO®, each with a strong history of innovation and growth.”
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VENWISE
Social Media Content Creator
Via Yuval in the community
“Venwise, a peer network for executive leaders in venture backed high growth start-ups (www.venwise.com), is searching for a Social Media Content Creator to develop and publish social media content for the company’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and other media platforms to generate leads and create awareness.  Posts will be made at a rate of 2-3x/week for which Venwise is seeking a monthly arrangement. Responsibilities include producing short format content about Venwise that shares learnings from company events, broadcasts Member related news, and highlights industry-related topics. Venwise will work with the consultant to determine weekly content focus areas and associated goals.  Consultant must have prior experience with digital publishing and generating traffic for **professional services businesses** on social media. Links to published articles/work samples should be submitted with the application.”
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BASE BEAUTY CREATIVE AGENCY
Paid Media Specialist
New York, United States
Via Jules in the community
“Base Beauty Creative Agency is looking for to contract a Paid Media Specialist who will be responsible for day-to-day management of multiple digital marketing campaigns. This position will work with the integrated digital marketing group to execute paid search, display, and social advertising strategies across multiple brands. This includes keyword research and management, analytics and tracking, campaign implementation, bid and budget management, and campaign reporting. The candidate will be expected to improve paid media campaigns efficiency and increase conversions through ongoing monitoring and implementation of optimizations. The ideal Paid Media Specialist candidate will have at least two years of experience in PPC, strong written and verbal communication skills, and in-depth knowledge of Google Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and more. Strong knowledge and interest in the beauty and wellness industry is a plus!”
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InSync.AI
Marketing Manager
Remote
“At InSync.Ai, marketing is about understanding our customers and building awareness about how our products/services can satisfy their needs. Were looking for an experienced and versatile marketing manager who is hungry to do this and more. Our ideal candidate has experience developing and executing marketing campaigns while managing and inspiring a team. He/she will be comfortable with day-to-day marketing activities, as well as long-term strategy, thriving with tight deadlines and changing needs. If you are a people-person who loves the rewarding challenge of building a brand, we want to hear from you.”
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Also, check out the Serial Marketers job board.

• AMA Job Board: Listings from the American Marketing Association (maybe you can also ask them anything)
• Beeler.Tech: Job listings for ad operations, programmatic account management, sales operations, and more.
• Braintrust: A freelance platform where you are the owner and where freelance talent keeps 100% of the bill rate.
• Built in NYC: Jobs at a range of levels and functions, as long as you’re okay working in this quaint, backwater hamlet.
• Content Writing Jobs: Content marketers, enjoy
• Creative Women of Color: List yourself in the database and find talent, via Women Who Create
• Demand Curve: Growth and marketing jobs
• ExecThread: Senior roles spanning a range of verticals and cities; membership is free but fully vetted (this uses my referral ID to get you in faster)
• Gently Ventures: Helps scale businesses by finding the right talent
• Growth Collective: Apply to join this network of notable freelance marketers
• Grace Blue Transitions: A portal for hirers and seekers with resources from this exec recruiting firm
• The Hired Guns: An array of jobs in marketing and related fields at brands, agencies, and media companies
• Hue: Amplifying voices of people in color working in marketing
• Lunch Club: Match 1:1 around predetermined goals with accomplished professionals (free)
• NYC Ad Jobs & Networking: A popular Facebook group
• One Club for Creativity: COVID-19 jobs Board
• #OpenToWork: There’s a channel in Serial Marketers where you can share what you’re looking for
• Pangea: Hire college freelancers (and college students can get gigs)
• Pocit: A platform connecting people of color with jobs in the tech industry
• Questions to Ask for a Marketing Role: What questions should you ask when starting a new marketing role or job?
• Serial Marketers Job Board: Post regular and featured listings and subscribe for updates.
• Startup.Jobs: There’s a section for marketing jobs
• Teal: One place to organize and manage your job search.
• TechNY Daily: While more technical, there are also some sales and marketing jobs at NY startups.
• VC Job Boards: Aleph, Eniac Ventures, Pear, Sequoia, Union Square Ventures
• VentureLoop: Free startup job listings; their paid option is $15/month and might surface more leads (but it might not).
• Venwise: Submit your job interests here and get in front of their roster of hiring leads; select “Serial Marketers” under “How did you find us”

Do you run or enjoy other job listing sites? Let me know, and I’ll share them.

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