“People
Don’t Usually Cry THAT Much At Weddings...
Or What a Former Low Life, ‘Scumbag’ Drug Dealer
and an ‘Ex Hooker’ Taught Me About Marketing...”
CHRIS:
It
was back in 1984 and I was performing my first wedding ceremony. (I actually
spent several years as an evangelist before getting into marketing)
John
and Lucy (not their real names) were standing in front of me when all of a
sudden Lucy’s Mom starts to cry...
Not
just your average ‘wedding tears’ either - I mean HUGE body-shaking,
gut-wrenching, howling sobs - the kind that you would be able to hear two blocks
away and that could ‘knock a strong man down’ at 50 paces!
Then
her Dad and all her relatives, followed by all of John’s friends, all the
guests and last of all John, Lucy and (yes I admit it) even me, ALL started
crying our eyes out! It must have looked quite a sight, all of us crying and
crying and crying...
I
have often wondered what someone would have thought had they walked in on the
scene that Sunday afternoon - probably that “THIS was the weirdest, saddest
wedding in history!”
I
tried my best to get some calm happening but it was no use at all.
We
literally had to stop the ceremony whilst tissues were passed out and people got
a chance to ‘get it out of their systems’ and settle down.
I can almost hear your
mind asking “Why all the tears? And what in the world has this possibly got to
do with joint venture marketing?”
To
answer that, I’ll need to explain a bit more about John and Lucy and how we
first met.
In the mid 80’s I was running a drug rehab in the beautiful city of Perth, Western Australia. One spring morning a young man stumbled through the door ...
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