Over the next few months, you’re going to – if you haven’t already – hear alot about Winnebago Man … but I don’t want to talk about his life, his documentary or his compendium of Winnebago outtakes that has become a massive Youtube hit, I want to talk about the power of unrestrained emotion.
To begin, I need you – even if you’ve seen it before – to watch this:
Winnebago man is a gentleman who goes by the name of Jack Rebney who sells – pretty obviously – Winnebago’s.
The thing I find interesting is that had these outtakes not come out, I’m sure you’d never of heard of our friend and yet whilst the clips are funny, I believe one of the many other reasons we like them [and there will be many] is because we love seeing people show their uncontrollable, unrestrained human side.
Of course that depends on the person and situation … I mean you wouldn’t want to hear a pilot screaming that he/she [I’m not sexist, ha!] can’t believe they’ve “missed the fucking runway again” however in this World where we go through life trying to project a calm – or at the least, in control – persona, seeing individuals break loose from their passive emotion chains is both refreshing and invigorating.
And here’s the thing, I believe charisma and charm are both powerful and valuable economic assets and yet all too often, we see business try and filter out any sign of individuality in favour of a corporate monotone.
Rumour has it that many years ago – when Pete Sampras was King of the court – the ATP sent him to what amounted to ‘personality school’ because they were worried his stilted personality [especially infront of the TV cameras] was actually putting kids and sponsors off the sport rather than attracting them.
Whether this is true or not, the fact is people are attracted by personality – and whilst those personality traits are fluid, dependent on circumstance and situation – I do find it quite amusing that brands spend so much time trying to perfect their “tone & voice” and yet nine times out of ten, it comes out in the same sterile, robotic manner as most other brands out there.
Would Virgin be as popular if Branson sounded like GE?
Would Gazza really of captured England’s hearts if he hadn’t bawled like a big girls blouse at Italia 90?
Would we know Mr Winnebago if he stayed calm when he didn’t get things right?
Of course in all these scenarios, the individuals applied skill and talent helped them stand out from the crowd, but as we all know, ability doesn’t always equate to success so even though I am not saying we should ever undermine the absolute vital importance of doing good shit each and every day, I do believe that not recognising the value and importance of charisma and personality is wrong which is why if I ran a business school, I’d make sure they not only appreciated that fact, but identified ways to apply it without letting all the uncontrollable and excitable energy being boiled away into some contrived bollock “mission statement” – even if in their personal life, they think wearing a pin stripe suit, driving a BMW and talking about their wine collection is the basis for a great and memorable time.