“Death of an Unpopular Poet”: What Jimmy Buffett taught me about the ADDY awards
Jimmy Buffett often described himself as having “several failed country careers.” Recently, he reflected on the period of his life when he wrote the song “Death of an Unpopular Poet” in 1973.
“I’d been through a lot of rejection in Nashville and every record company in town had turned me down.”
As the title indicates, this song is about a struggling and unsuccessful writer that didn’t become popular until after his death. His closet full of work was then discovered and published, earning a considerable fortune for his estate. Of course, there’s a classic Jimmy Buffett twist to this story. The poet leaves everything to his beloved dog, Spooner.
But he left all his royalties
To Spooner his ‘ol hound
Growin’ old on steak and bacon
In a dog house 10 feet round
And everybody wonders
Did he really lose his mind?
No, he was just a poet who lived before his time
Despite what Jimmy may have thought while he was writing that song, he didn’t live before his time. Jimmy hit it big a few years later with Margaritaville. He went on to sell over 20 million albums (and counting!), have a wildly successful touring career (well into his 70’s), and develop a Margaritaville empire of restaurants, hotels, and resorts all over the world (sorry, Madison) with an estimated net worth of $1 billion at the time of his death in 2023.
Still, I remember a remark he made on a live concert album from the 1990’s telling the frenzied crowd that he had never won any awards for his music. Which is true – no Grammys, no MTV Music Awards, No American Music Awards. Jimmy Buffett is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s never even been nominated.
What does success look like?
That’s actually a question we ask every new client before we start working with them. It’s often a complex question, but it’s worth the effort to answer it. In fact, you really shouldn’t spend a dime on marketing until you can clearly articulate the answer.
What changed for Jimmy Buffett?
One word: Parrotheads.
Jimmy Buffett found his audience. And, once he did, he played to it.
His group of raving fans love his music, but it’s way bigger than that. They love the lifestyle he embodies – carefree beach vacations, pirate ships, sailboats, surfing, and adventure. Experiencing a Jimmy Buffett concert, staying in a Margaritaville hotel, moving to a Margaritaville retirement village (yep), or just listening to an album becomes a vacation, an escape.
“I have never ever won an award for any music that I have written, but I don’t really care when I have fans like Parrotheads. (huge cheer from the crowd) Reward enough!”
– Jimmy Buffett, circa 1990s
But, it’s nice to win awards. It’s nice to be recognized for your accomplishments and expertise. Awards provide validity and encouragement. I’m glad Jimmy finally won a few much later in his career. I’m also glad Active8 took home an armful of ADDYs this year. I’m glad our entire team had a great night of recognition and celebration at the American Advertising Awards banquet this year and continued the celebration at Taco Bell with our new hardware stacked on the tables around us.
Just like with Jimmy, awards don’t always indicate success. The ultimate success is to understand your audience and play to them. That’s what great Marketing is. We’re fortunate at Active8 to have some incredible customers with energizing missions. Success for us is helping them find their audience, crafting their story and message, and telling it relentlessly and creatively.
You know what I like about the ADDYs?
I like that we don’t think about them until we get the final reminder email to submit work to be considered for awards. It’s not our focus. For 11 ½ months out of the year, we keep our head down helping our clients be successful. Just like Jimmy said, that’s reward enough.
Epilogue:
But, there’s nothing wrong with a little bling.
