Popcorn, Soda, Candy – check!

I thought I was perhaps being a bit unkind to Marc Davison in wondering why a marketer would post what he did about being a rock star.

Greg Swann over at Bloodhound looses both barrels on him:

I should probably stop picking on this little nebbish, but he’s such a champion at leading with his chin that I find him hard to resist. His theme? “Rewriting the book on how to kick ass.” I wish I were joking. I’m gonna guess that he wasn’t among the first picked on the ass-kicking team in grammar school, and I’ll bet a large dollar he wasn’t even in huge demand for the coloring-outside-the-lines squad. I just love it, though, that he’s so completely dysclued that his ass-kicking theme song is entitled — wait for it — Unchained. And before you trouble yourselves trying to imagine Kevin Boer and Noah Rosenblatt in day-glo-hued spandex tights with huge cod-pieces — these two being Davison’s envisioned rock stars of real estate — stop for a moment to consider that we are talking about marketing in the world of Web 2.0. Rock stars are all about “Me, ME, MEEEE!!!!” This role belongs to the customer, not the vendor — this according to this same mental midget a few weeks ago. Brian Brady and I are rewriting the book on real estate marketing, an iterative endeavor that will see its next big advance at the real Unchained. But if you want to find a Web 2.0 star, it’s not me or Brian or Kevin or Noah. If I were to pick one person who best expresses what consumers are looking for in a Realtor or a lender, I would pick Dan Melson. There’s is nothing of a rock star in the man, but if “fiduciary” had a face, it would be his — and that comes through in everything he does.

Since I’m a relative newbie in blogging about real estate marketing and such, I had no idea I was witnessing some ongoing soap opera.  This should get interesting.

Even more amusing: Greg praises Teri Lussier, so I checked out some of her stuff.  She is good, and I’m looking forward to reading more of her thoughts.  But one of the things she posted seemed so apropos the kerfuffle-that-is-about-to-ensue:

 If you are a RE.netter, you can stop reading now. This next part is between me and the ninety and nine. Are they gone? Okay, now that we are alone, between you and me: I don’t quite understand the inner workings of the RE.net power bloggers. I don’t know about you, but I got my head down, trying to keep my nose to the grindstone, scrapping out a meager existence. They make a lot of inside jokes and references to posts that first posted back in the dark ages when they all began to blog. They seem to break off into clans… Now there’s an idea- perhaps my first video for the RE.net will be a whiteboard scorecard so we can keep track of who is pissed at whom.

This week reminded me of the once-upon-a-time when I was a Dance Mom- think soccer mom in a world of pink tulle. You’ve never seen such gossiping and grudge matches and political posturing- and that was just the moms. It’s the kind of world where otherwise sweet girls embrace the pure ugliness of highly charged and competitive behavior. I was quite thrilled- you have no idea how thrilled, I mean you really can’t imagine how thrilled I was- to leave all that behind when my daughter said she had had enough.

Once my daughter bolted from that convoluted world, we were able to sit together and look back and laugh our butts off at one perfect glimpse into the world of twisted politics at the cliquish level. Just like in the dance world, just like in the ancient world, just like high school, sometimes the RE.net world gets a little um, mean.

You don’t say, Teri… you don’t say…

Still, I’ve got my popcorn, soda, and candy ready to go.  The next chapter could be fun and interesting. 🙂

-rsh