Q. What is Culture Klatch?
A. It’s my year-long blog experiment about marketing and marketing-adjacent things. Welcome!
Q. No, what is “Culture Klatch?”
Culture Klatch is a play on the phrase and idea of a coffee klatch, or a Kaffeeklatsch (it’s German, darling). Coffee klatches were casual get-togethers where people would sit and gossip over coffee.
I’ve always been drawn to the idea of a coffee klatch. The term “coffee klatch” dates from the 1950s, but coffee klatches were also a pop culture concept in 1990s, when every TV show I watched brought people together in coffee shops and cafes. I’ve also always liked they way the words sound. One day, the phrase “culture klatch” came to my mind and I liked they way those words sounded even more (you should say it out loud–it’s really nice. A little too from the throat maybe, but very satisfying to speak). So, then I bought the domain name and used the handle to create little test web pages and dummy social accounts for doing research for my work. Now I’ve decided to use the name for both personal and business purposes.
Q. Sorry, I fell asleep. Why does this site exist and who does it exist for?
A. It exists because I want a place to write down, refine, and even invite feedback on my ideas and approaches to work. And I will still use this domain to practice and test marketing and analytics concepts. It exists primarily for myself, but if anyone else gets some benefit from the content that’s cool too. Nothing here would be considered klatsch, or gossip, really, which is also intentional. I’m not good at gossip, but I’m excellent at being long-winded.
Q. Who are you? What is it that you do?
A. I’m Rebecca Wynne and I’m a marketer. And, believe it or not, I actually really like marketing, and talking about marketing, and thinking about marketing. I think everything in the world is marketing. Even product, which is famously NOT marketing, is marketing. 🙂
We already frame so many aspects of our lives in terms of a market: there’s a dating market; a job market; a marketplace of ideas; wherever there is an exchange, there is a market. We can frame the whole of human history as a history of personalities trying to position themselves better in various markets. Markets for food and land, sure, but also for potential mates, jobs, power, influence, time, and now, attention. And, in trying to understand and operate within these markets, we act as marketers for ourselves, our beliefs, and our ideas.
I don’t find this to be a cynical point of view. I actually find it compelling, and even a little comforting, to think that everyone is living life with an agenda to convince other people to do a certain thing or be a certain way. Maybe you think this reeks of inauthenticity or Machiavellianism. I think it puts everyone on the same playing field. It doesn’t mean we are all maliciously manipulating others for our own self-interest. it means we have a desire to change ourselves and our world in big and small ways, and this requires a marketer’s toolkit.
Q. What the hell are you talking about?
A. My content can be really insufferable and abstract and pedantic. This is my brand and I choose to keep my content this way, even though I know it’s not reflective of best-in-class content strategy tactics.
Q. Do you actually expect anyone to care about this?
A. Oh God no.
Q. Do you actually expect anyone to read this?
A. No, but I notice you made it this far…
Q. So what, you think you’re better than me?
A. Oh, are you from Cincinnati too? The opposite, honestly.
Q. Do you have an OnlyFans?
A. I sure do.