🍣 One of the most underrated sources of human truth
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Hey friend – Rob here. Memes are more than time wasting. They're research and development. You know why? Tension. Tension is interesting because it's hard. It's hard on our egos, who want it easy. It's hard because it signals trouble. It's hard because it's not linear. And yet, tension creates vibration. And vibration gets us hooked. And that’s what every successful meme has. Tension. Followed by punchline. Plato was onto something similar: "Serious things cannot be understood without laughable things." And even a serious category has a funny take on it. This doesn’t mean ‘make the work funny’. It just means ‘look at the problem in funny ways’. So next time you work on a brief, consider the meme. Look up subreddits of your category. Meme accounts adjacent to your product. Gags others have shared on Twitter/X. Funny TikToks about your brand. And then consider, among the truly funny stuff:
After all, sometimes the best unlocks start with this question. "You know what’s funny about this problem?" So don’t obsess with formalising your thinking just yet. Find the funny first. Keep swimming, Rob
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Salmon Theory, by Rob Estreitinho
Helping savvy strategists swim upstream.
Hey friend – Rob here. This is the last newsletter of the year, and goodness me what a year it's been. I was made redundant. I started a business. I lost my mother. I had my best year ever in terms of cash and confidence building. Ebbs and flows, eh? I hope you have a chance to take a break, genuinely turn off those notifications, and sleep in if you feel like it. I bring below 3x articles i wrote recently, and an event we're running in January. See you in 2025, and thanks for supporting...
Hey friend – Rob here. Here's what's been swimming around our brains lately: Synthesis-as-a-Service 5 things i’ve learned from Theophilus Wells IV The question i ask whenever i open a book [Bonus!] Social strategy, deconstructed Grab a cup of caramel tea, and let's get into it. Synthesis-as-a-Service And why it may be an underrated use case for hiring independent strategists. 5 things i’ve learned from Theophilus Wells IV Including directness, self-definition and why impostor syndrome is a...
Hey friend – Rob here. Do you worry about things? Or at all? My suspicion is that you worry far too much about everything. But don't worry, so do i. I think it's part of what makes strategists minimally good at the job. We are always wondering what else we might be missing. It's not a point of advantage, but it's definitely a point of parity. Worrying means we don't take anything for granted. And that's the first ingredient you need to challenge preconceptions about a problem. However. As you...