The Cardboard Sign Advantage

By Anthony Garcia - Jan 05 , 2011

It was early 2004, and I was sitting in a client meeting with Roy H. Williams when he began talking about the power of authenticity.  I pulled this video up on my Powerbook as example for our client.

At the time William Hung was a household name, his naive confidence was not an act.  People couldn’t get enough of this video.    It was a shot across the bow.  It was an alpha voice for today’s civic cycle.  In a polished and plastic world, he stood out like space heater in a frozen tundra.

Skip forward to January 2011, 7 years later.  Authenticity is more nuclear than ever.

Meet Ted Williams…

Ted is the likely opposite of William Hung, a homeless, former drug addict with tons of real talent.  He didn’t have a high-rated reality TV show to get exposure.  All he had going for him was his voice, and a cardboard sign etched with an authentic message.

Someone took notice, interviewed him, and put it online.  Now millions have seen the video and a community on Reddit decided to organize and help him get a job and a home.  Looks like he is going to do well.  The latest is that the Cleveland Cavaliers offered him a job and a home.

Go Ted!

That is the power of having an authentic message to share.  You can put it on a blog , on the radio, on Facebook, on a billboard, on YouTube, on the nightly news, in a full page spread in the USA Today, or even on cardboard sign. It doesn’t really matter.

Just put it out there, get someone to see it.  Sooner or later, it will kindle a fire.

Do you have something authentic to put on a cardboard sign?

What are you waiting for?