'The same cigarette as me...' / Insiders - Outsiders

Written on Monday, November 03, 2008 by Siddharth PV

From Seth Godin’s blog:

The same cigarette as me

"He can't be a man because he doesn't smoke [syncopated pause] the same cigarette as me."

When your product becomes the badge for a tribe, you sell a lot of products. The Stones don't mean "a man" in the sense of a homo sapien. They mean "a man" in sense of "someone worthy of my respect." Not in my tribe, not worth it...

Brooks Brothers was the badge for a generation of grey-suited men. Che t-shirts are the badge for a cadre of activists. The Allen & Co. retreat is the badge for a tiny cabal of media titans.

It's not easy to become the badge, but it's a worthy destination.

Key truth: you can't be the badge for everyone. In order for the tribe to exist, it must have insiders. And you can't have insiders without outsiders.


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'The same cigarette as me...' / Insiders - Outsiders

From Seth Godin’s blog:

The same cigarette as me

"He can't be a man because he doesn't smoke [syncopated pause] the same cigarette as me."

When your product becomes the badge for a tribe, you sell a lot of products. The Stones don't mean "a man" in the sense of a homo sapien. They mean "a man" in sense of "someone worthy of my respect." Not in my tribe, not worth it...

Brooks Brothers was the badge for a generation of grey-suited men. Che t-shirts are the badge for a cadre of activists. The Allen & Co. retreat is the badge for a tiny cabal of media titans.

It's not easy to become the badge, but it's a worthy destination.

Key truth: you can't be the badge for everyone. In order for the tribe to exist, it must have insiders. And you can't have insiders without outsiders.