Hey stage crasher, nice to meet you

17 October, 2009 | Written by edward boches 0 Comments
The Stage Crasher Craig Grant and me

The Stage Crasher Craig Grant (right) and me

Gotta love social media.  A few days after posting a piece about interruption marketing versus engagement and conversation, arguably exploiting a real live event and person to make my point, Craig Grant, aka The Stage Crasher, showed up in broad daylight.  Actually he simply appeared in the comment section of this blog, but in doing so exhibited courage, won my welcome and earned congratulations from a few other readers.

He listened (by reading the post), engaged (with his comment), served up relevant content (in the form of an explanation), and invited a dialog. And guess what? A comment turned into a reply. A reply evolved into an email exchange. And an email exchange quickly became a personal meeting, a sharing of perspectives, and the beginning of a relationship.

I could use the rest of this post to talk about how engagement works better than interruption, refer to a bunch of examples from brands and individuals that prove it, and further argue my original point.

Instead I’ll share a few facts about Craig. Unfortunately, he, like many, is a victim of the economy, our industry’s consolidation and the rapid pace of technological change that makes it hard for all of us to keep up. His freelance art direction business has softened. His past emphasis on print and collateral make him an unlikely candidate for a purely digital job, which he knows. And, of course, he faces competition for employment; everything from crowdsourcing, to the 20-somethings who cost less, present clients with alternatives.

But I can attest to a couple of traits that might make him a worthy job candidate. He has taught at Emerson College for five years. He clearly knows how to mentor. He’s run his own small business for even longer. That takes responsibility, dedication, and client service skills. And he has both courage and integrity, evident by his willingness to come forward after my initial criticism.

To be honest, I haven’t seen his work; our conversation was about this other stuff. So I can’t offer a review of his conceptual or design skills. Besides, you would want to verify that for yourself anyway. But, if you need an art director, someone to do anything from advertising to collateral to direct mail, to basic web stuff, maybe you should get in touch with Craig, the homeless art director, formerly The Stage Crasher. You can email him at craiggrant@comcast.net.

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Michelle Jenney's Avatar
Michelle Jenney moderator
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We love Craig! We has helped us develop brochures, annual reports and helped us launch a new name and logo. Check out his work on our website. Be smart hire him!

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Kat Jaibur's Avatar
Kat Jaibur moderator
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Hey, Edward. Just read this post and the story behind it. Couple of thoughts: 1) Without risk, there is no gain. 2) Could it be that there is a time and place for Interruption as well as Engagement? I can't go looking to engage with you or a brand if I don't know you/they exist. I commend Craig for his courage... not only at the Hatch Awards but also for owning and explaining what he did on your last post. (I read every comment.) He handled himself with dignity and grace. And Edward, I commend you for overcoming your initial annoyance and getting to actually know the guy. Not only that, but writing a post advocating for him. In the end, maybe his risk will pay off anyway. Let's hope.

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edward boches's Avatar
edward boches moderator
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Kat: Of course interruption can work (presuming it's done with charm and respect, with an appreciation for one's time, and an understanding that you have to come bearing gifts). And yes, kudos for Chris for turning intrusion into engagement. And, for providing me with the inspiration for a couple of posts and some conversation about these two forms of communication.

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Craig Grant's Avatar
Craig Grant moderator
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“Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax." There's a headline, huh? It was going to be used on "Gawker.com", but thankfully, the whole scam has unraveled (deflated? pun anyone?). But Edward, you are so right about the aspect of charm, respect and appreciation for one's time when it comes to interruption. Or worse than interruption, praying on people's emotions, like the Heene's did. On one hand, this story exemplifies how easily the media can be manipulated these days. But certainly the backlash will have grave consequences for the Keene's (possible jail time, fines. etc.) And what of their kids- they could end up in social services (maybe they'd be better off?) Didn't these people consider the ramifications? As a parent and general human being, it's appalling to me. I knew when I approached you on stage Edward, there might be some negative reactions, and there were, but even as I was walking (hustling) away from the stage after handing you my card, I was already thinking that this was either the ballsiest thing I've ever done, or the stupidest- maybe both I guess. But in my heart I knew this wasn't rocket scientry (pun again?), and this was an advertising, creative crowd. I honestly don't know if I'd do the same thing again, but it was situational; not manufactured, and not predicted. Almost like knowing you'd make the right decision if you found someone's wallet stuffed with money- boy, could I use that cash...but...no, I can't do that. That's what helps separate those who have integrity and dignity from those who don't; it's knowing no matter how hard life gets, you have to keep pushing yourself forward for positive change, and maybe, spare change as well. I think I may get used to wearing my new optimist hat. Craig

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Lauren's Avatar
Lauren moderator
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Great story. Glad things worked out so well - that Craig, you had the courage to go up to the stage in the first place and then explain yourself on Edward's blog, and Edward for being so open-minded and generous about the situation. It's often said (and then dismissed as a cliche) that social media helps people better connect. This is a great example. .-= Lauren´s last blog ..GQ’s December issue now available as iPhone app =-.

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Lenny Fogel's Avatar
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This is a great story. We have worked with Craig on a number of projects over the years and he is a terrific collaborator and creative thinker.

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Sky McElroy's Avatar
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Create cognitive dissonance, and you can better capture the the attention of those you're looking to connect with. But the point is that in that creation of dissonance you engage your target audience; and that the engagement becomes relevant. That's where Advertisement, in the traditional sense, and Social Media diverge. And that's where the greatest opportunity is. In a sense, what Mr. Stage Crasher did, whether he intended it or not, worked. He created dissonance for you. You tried to make sense of it in a blog post. And he was clearly Following you, in the online sense of the word, then capitalized by using it as a point of engagement. He moved from Mr. Stage Crasher (dissonance) to Craig (engagement), and in that span won himself attention and, most importantly, a worthwhile dialogue that will better serve him down the line. Craig not only showed courage, but he demonstrated the power of Social Media. And he showed why old models are shifting. But in reality, he just reinforced what we already know. In Advertising, new media or old, nothing really works unless it engages. And engagement is always a two(three/four/five/sixty-thousand)-way street. .-= Sky McElroy´s last blog ..skymcelroy: @jchee916 Had an Indian Summer, did you? ;-). =-.

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edward boches's Avatar
edward boches moderator
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Your cognitive dissonance thought is an interesting one. Seems our entire industry is in that state right now, holding contradictory views and beliefs of what works and how to apply it. For me resolution lies in the convergence of content that matters and inspires, and distribution/engagement models that aren't based on interruption.

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What an awesome, awesome story. SO happy to hear that engagement eventually saved the day. I can almost see this as a story on the Today show! Took a look at Craig's web site, in fact, and he's got some really nice design concepts. Most of my connections are in NJ, but if there's anything I can see that might be a good fit, I'll try to help him out too! Would love to use this in a future talk I might have about Social Media, if that's okay with you Edward, and hope you continue to share the kinds of unique connections you are finding as you tread the Social Media landscape. .-= Mariano´s last blog ..Organize your Organization: Meetup.com =-.

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edward boches's Avatar
edward boches moderator
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You may use anything from this blog that you want, simply give credit where credit is due. I'm a big believer in sharing.

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Great example of how people connect and engage today across different media - real live events to digital and snowballing back and forth. One to many, many to one and one-to-one. Why do so many brands (products and services) still have such a hard time applying the same principles. .-= Thomas Vogel´s last blog ..VogelThomas: ... or Life Insurance Companies are just targeting the youngest customers - thinking "it's never too early" =-.

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edward boches's Avatar
edward boches moderator
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I think one of the real lessons is that conversations or encounters can start in one place and end 180 degrees away. That's a good lesson for brands trying to engage.

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  1. Tweets that mention Hey stage crasher, great to meet you | Creativity_Unbound -- Topsy.com says:
    October 17, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by edwardboches, Mariano DiFabio. Mariano DiFabio said: Grt story: person crashes speech. Speaker gets mad, posts blog article. Crasher engages & connects with speaker. http://bit.ly/2Q3kpO [...]