Hi, Pumpkin.

 

This fall has been dominated by a contentious, polarizing, absolutely gutting election—where one plumped-up challenger seeks to unseat an overstuffed incumbent.

 

Social media has been taking sides (it always does)—adamant that their candidate is the most qualified. The most skilled. The only logical choice, you idiot.

 

I'm talking, of course, about Fat Bear Week. 

Fat Bear Week is the annual competition that seeks an answer to the question: Which brown bear at Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve is the fattest? 

 

The single-elimination tournament pits bear against bear. Voters online choose the one they think has packed on the most pounds to prepare for the coming winter's hibernation. This is not a body-shaming; it's body-glorifying: The fattest bear is celebrated as the one who has prepped the best.

 

No lie: this Fat Bear election has been a nice distraction from the other big election looming here in the US—the one that's equally polarizing, but with higher stakes. 

 

And maybe the backdrop of the US Presidential election is why Fat Bear Week took on new resonance this year.

 

Or maybe it's because this year we are all Fat Bears? Sitting in our homes. Eating everything in sight. Bulking up for a winter we aren't sure we'll survive.

 

Whatever the reason, heavy bears are the lightness 2020 needs: This year, Fat Bear Week drew 646,282 online votes, more than double the number of voters during Fat Bear Week 2019.

 

This year's champion won by a... well, wide margin: A bear called 747 (he's "big as a jet") took the title:

 

 

There's a lot I love about Fat Bear Week from a Marketing point of view. (I've talked about why I love it in speeches this fall.)

 

But at the foundation of it is the story that the Katmai Park and National Park Service tells about each bear candidate.

 

 

👉 Telling is better than selling. The park service doesn't sell the fat candidates to us. It doesn't implore you or me to vote for one over another.

 

Instead, it tells their story in a way that makes every bear relatable, while educating us on the challenges and surprising humanity of wild bear life.

 

 

 

See what happened there?

 

Holly is transformed through story. It's not her weight or appearance or the facts of her fatness that win us over. It's the story of how she's advocated for her own children, fostered other kids in need—how she is basically Mother of the Year by any measure for any species.

 

👉 Humor is painted, not written. Holly isn't tan and black; she's the color of a bloated "toasted marshmallow."

 

Bear 402 (so close to "404" that I dubbed her Bear ALMOST Not Found LOL) has "apostrophe-shaped ears."

 

Grazer is "an especially skilled angler," which instantly conjures up the image of a pudgy brown sow in hip waders and a fishing vest, casting her rod into the rapids, posting her catch on her Instagram account later that day.

 

 

👉 Always apply alliteration. "Lardaceous Leviathan Levels Chunky Challenger" is a much more vivid way of writing "Fat, Large Creature Beats His Challenger."

 

Especially when it's followed by "747 fulfills the fate of the fat and fabulous as he heads off to hibernation."

 

That's some world-class alliteration there.

 

 

Danielle Bridiga runs digital strategy for the Department of Interior, which includes the parks in the National Park Service. She told me that the social strategy of the National Park Service "is to share plenty of content that sparks wonder and memories, travel ideas, and of course amusement—while keeping people aware and invested."

 

Our product might not be Fat Bears (sweet Cheezits I wish). But isn't Danielle's mission not unlike that for all our brands? To share content that sparks awareness and investment?

 

And maybe a little humor, a story, and a reminder that even in the wilderness... we can thrive.

 

👉 And if you're in the US: Please VOTE!!! It's too late to favorite a Fat Bear. But it's not too late for that other election dominating the news. Get to it.

 

 

This past week has been a doozy. So this fortnight I'm sharing just a few quick things.

 

▶️ Creativity Is a Choice. I really like this video that my friend Carole Alalouf produced for Seth Godin. (Hi, Carole!) There are some great reminders in here for any creative soul. (As in: alllll of us!) From Seth:

 

 

P.S. Marketers: Carole creates these whiteboard explainer videos for brands, too. She created this one for me. I love that she included my beloved little dog, Abby, who passed away 6 months ago. That's the kind of thoughtful detail that sets Carole's work apart.

 

▶️ A 22-Point Web Content Checklist. A complete list of elements to include in your next article or blog post.

 

I like that Orbit Media breaks down the elements of content into 3 components: SEO (If no one sees it, what's the point?); human psychology (triggers that help us engage); and media (photos, videos, etc.). Full explanation of the checklist is here.

 

▶️ How Marketing Leaders Can Be Better Marketing Leaders. I like this piece by CMO Latane Conant, especially the quote below. It's a good read for marketing leaders at any level of an organization who want to understand what it takes to be great.

 

 

 

The Most Dangerous Writing App. "Dangerous" because it deletes all your work if you stop writing for 5 seconds. [h/t to the fantastic David Berkowitz, who shared this with me after I shared two of my own favorite offbeat writing apps last week]

 

 

Arugula was discovered in the mid-1960s, which was followed by endive, which was followed by radicchio, which was followed by frisée, which was followed by the three M's—mesclun, mache, and microgreens—and that, in a nutshell, is the history of the past forty years from the point of view of lettuce.

 

 

 

Dumpster. ZIP code. Bubble wrap. Escalator. Auto-tune.

Those 5 words are not part of a mental acuity test. They are 5 of 50 everyday words that started out in life as brand names and trademark puppets and grew up to be real words. Full list by Ramona Sukhraj at IMPACT. [h/t Cyndi Sutela]

 

 

LOVE LETTERS
Shouts from around the Internet.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading this far. Thanks for your kindness and generosity.

 

Stay safe. Stay sane. Wear a mask.

 

I'll be back on November 7.