{"id":19509,"date":"2023-10-06T10:41:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T10:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=19509"},"modified":"2023-10-06T14:20:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T14:20:20","slug":"commencement-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/commencement-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is Water\u201d: Inside One of the Greatest Commencement Speeches Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>TLDR: David Foster Wallace&#8217;s &#8216;This is Water&#8217; speech contains unexpected wisdom for marketers: Embrace empathy, genuine connections, and authenticity in campaigns. It&#8217;s a valuable guide for marketers seeking a thoughtful approach.<\/b><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>So What? Marketers benefit from &#8220;This is Water&#8221; because it emphasizes empathy and mindfulness. Understanding the human experience in marketing fosters genuine connections, authentic campaigns, and strong customer relationships, will ensure long-term brand loyalty and success.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese two young fish are swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, &#8220;Morning, boys, how&#8217;s the water?&#8221; And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, &#8220;What the hell is water?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The opening of David Foster Wallace\u2019s \u201cThis is Water\u201d is a short story, almost a joke. But as the speech unfolds, the ideas portrayed constantly return to this simple humor with increasing importance and emphasis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By looking at this speech, we will dive into the power of humor and strong imagery to invite audiences to think outside their perceptions and see the world differently. This technique parallels Foster\u2019s intended meaning and gives us marketers a technique to consider when trying to get our audiences to think about a bigger picture for themselves and others.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This speech and these ideas aren\u2019t just applicable to young college grads heading out into the \u201creal\u201d world. They\u2019re also important for marketers, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"This Is Water  David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DCbGM4mqEVw?start=2&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using Humor and Allegory to Engage with Your Audience<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wallace\u2019s commencement speech to Keyon College\u2019s class of 2005 is, first and foremost, an attempt to settle back from the conventions of such speeches while using those conventions. Storytelling is a powerful tool, but these stories can feel rote or artificial in a world of rhetoric that seeks to provide moving insights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wallace knows this\u2013but also knows that done right, the story-driven commencement <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">works:\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is a standard requirement of US commencement speeches, the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories. The story thing turns out to be one of the better, less bullshitty conventions of the genre\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Storytelling is inherently engaging, especially when it is done well. But \u201cwell\u201d is relative, and Wallace takes a slightly different approach: identification through humor. By starting with allegory and then pointing out that A) it\u2019s a cheesy part of this process and B) It does work, Wallace helps his audience identify with him. He\u2019s not lecturing at them. He\u2019s trying to communicate <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This can be a great technique for marketers to create rapport with their audience. Trying-and-true selling or thought leadership techniques can turn off readers if you can\u2019t build a bridge between parties. A good way of doing that is by disarming their cynicism or resistance to communication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teaching Audiences Through Repeated Ideas<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The humorous allegory Wallace uses to introduce the speech isn\u2019t just for effect. It\u2019s an idea that he keeps revisiting throughout the speech. By repeatedly returning to the ideas in that story without simply repeating them, Wallace essentially \u201cteaches\u201d them the message.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wallace tells about the mundanity of everyday adult life after college. He talks about having to fight traffic to go to the store, the frustration of dealing with the other shoppers, the boredom of waiting in long lines, etc. This is the \u201cwater\u201d of the initial parable\u2013the normalcy of everyday life that we move through without even noticing we\u2019re inundated by it:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you\u2019re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won\u2019t consider possibilities that aren\u2019t annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The content of this message is that we often run on our default\u2026 we don\u2019t notice \u201cthe water\u201d around us get outside of our minds to see the world as something else.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rhetoric of this message, however, is a teaching moment:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c&#8230;learning how to think really means exercising some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketers, especially B2B marketers, know a lot about teaching. It\u2019s almost part of the job description. In this case, we can learn a few things:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even in B2B marketing, we can use anecdotes and narratives to set up ideas<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Returning to those ideas in different ways, ideally with real-world examples, makes those ideas substantive and solid for the audience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can use these techniques to guide audiences to open their minds to the potential of our message, whatever it may be.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19511\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"Wallace giving a Commencement Speech\" width=\"600\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2.jpeg.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2.jpeg-300x240.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teach Audiences to See a Message. Do Not Manipulate.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The primary theme of Wallace\u2019s speech is that learning how to think isn\u2019t so much about the mechanics of thinking but about making choices as to what to think about or to focus on. He\u2019s inviting the audience to think, not about a message, but their ability to think about their world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wallace says that education:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c&#8230;is not so much about filling you up with knowledge as it is about \u201cteaching you how to think.\u201d If you\u2019re like me as a student, you\u2019ve never liked hearing this\u2026[But maybe it] isn\u2019t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about. If your total freedom of choice regarding what to think about seems too obvious to waste time discussing, I\u2019d ask you to think about fish and water, and to bracket for just a few minutes your skepticism about the value of the totally obvious.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a section where his message is just as important as his technique. If you\u2019re a marketer looking to leverage sales language and tried-and-true messaging to evoke a response, you might step back and think about the value you bring to that audience. Because that audience isn\u2019t just here to be sold\u2013they are here with a need and the potential to create a relationship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ve done the market research, so you know the demographic information about your target market. Did you choose to stop there and assume that the demographic information was all you needed to know? Do you see your target audience as a series of archetypes easily distinguished from one another?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be Sincere and Honest in Marketing Communication<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the surface, marketing is straightforward: put your product in front of those who can use it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The truth is that marketing is such a ubiquitous part of our culture that it\u2019s easy to forget to see it as what it is: the work of building a relationship with a target market or audience. When you build symbiotic relationships and care about your audience as much as you hope they care about you, there is the opportunity to build something that will last and that you can work with in perpetuity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But that takes patience, consideration of an audience\u2019s needs, and the ability to build ideas that carry over whatever message or asset you create.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or, as Wallace says, it\u2019s about recognizing the water we\u2019re all swimming in and being open to sharing that experience with your audience with education and compassion.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re in a place where you want to integrate storytelling and sincerity into your content, then we\u2019re here to help. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/user\/free_trial?__mscta=2850_97485_162\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try our Media Shower Platform<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and see what it means to craft high-quality content that fits your brand.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/user\/free_trial?__mscta=2850_97485_162\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15501 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/try-media-shower-cta.png\" alt=\"Try media shower\" width=\"680\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/try-media-shower-cta.png 680w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/try-media-shower-cta-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explore David Foster Wallace&#8217;s &#8216;This is Water&#8217; speech and its relevance to mindful marketing. Learn to connect authentically amidst marketing chaos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":19510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19509"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19509"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19515,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19509\/revisions\/19515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}