I'm Lisa.👋 Every two weeks, I write to you about marketing, brand, and the messy middle where they intersect. It’s a love letter of sorts. If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here.

May 5, 2023

Hi. 

Have you ever blinked, and suddenly it’s May? 

May is a tricky month for me. While everyone around me is celebrating spring and new growth and revival, I honor a season of loss, spending more time evaluating where I am, where I want to be, and the existing gap. 

Last week, I saw an interview that reframed my perspective.   

Maybe you saw it too? 

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a 28-year-old basketball player with the Milwaukee Bucks. Last Wednesday, the Bucks were eliminated from the NBA playoffs after a loss against the Miami Heat. Disappointing, absolutely. But losing, like winning, is a side effect of being in the game. 

On the heels of the emotional defeat, a reporter asked Giannis: 

“Do you view this season as a failure?”

Does not winning the whole thing rule the entire effort a resounding fail? 

If you haven’t watched Giannis’ exceptional response, please take a moment to do so. I can't possibly do it justice. 

I am Lisa Barone—a 40-year-old marketer with Overit. As a Type A overachiever born with something to prove, failure is always top of mind. 

I serve on the agency’s executive team, overseeing our branding, content, social media, and public relations teams. I am asked daily to provide in-the-moment solutions for problems I’ve never considered. I am expected to know the answer because I have the experience, the background, and the title that says I do.  

I also work client-side, partnering with businesses to build effective brand positioning and construct thoughtful and comprehensive communication plans.  

Some days, it’s my turn to be the hero. 

Some days, it’s my turn to leave the table with more humility than when I sat down.

As Giannis notes, there are good days and bad days. And that's okay.

But if we view winning as the only way to succeed and losing as a complete failure, we overlook that failure is a necessary part of the path toward progress.  

Having the confidence to try and not succeed might be your greatest superpower. Here's why.

1. Failure is a tool for learning what works.

How silly is the idea that it was all a waste if you didn’t do it perfectly the first time? 

When we launch an advertising campaign and don’t see results right out of the gate, we don’t toss the whole thing and start over. We optimize, iterate, and make it smarter. 

When I design messaging that doesn't resonate with our audience, I don’t blow it all up. I optimize, iterate, and make it smarter. 

Kobe Bryant once told us that failure is a figment of our imagination. It doesn’t exist because the story continues to move us closer to our end goal. Coming up short is how we identify what worked, what didn’t, and where we can build better habits to create success the next time. 

As data-centric marketers, we share a similar growth mindset.

2. Failure is a tool to enhance ourselves.  

You learn A LOT about a person by how they handle failure.

You can learn a lot about yourself, too.  

When things don’t go as planned, take the time to debrief with your team and privately with yourself: 

• What was the outcome you wanted?
• Where did you fall short? 
• Where did you shine? 
• What lessons did you learn? 
• Where can you push through or pivot? 

Analyzing what happened allows you to learn from the situation, gain confidence in what you did well, and retool a process to address where things didn’t go as planned.

It’s not all or nothing. It's one step at a time. [Cue Jordin Sparks]

3. Failure is a launchpad. 

We don’t give failure enough credit for being a supreme course corrector. 

Success doesn't happen in a straight line. It's a series of pivots and adjustments where we make changes and learn from setbacks until we find our groove and get where we're supposed to be.

Success and failure sit side by side. They are not opposites.  

Consider every time in your life something “went wrong” but actually landed you exactly where you should be. 

• We see it in sports when great teams come back stronger next season. 

   

• We see it in business when startups reinvent themselves as something new. 

   

• We see it in life when losing the person we love allows us to meet the person who was right all along.  

It’s not always the most comfortable, but if you don’t fail, you don't grow.  

4. Failure breeds confidence to fail again.

This week, we had an all-day executive summit where our leadership came together to discuss our vision and move the company forward. 

During the meeting, Dan Dinsmore, our CEO, reflected on Overit's innovation over the years. Experimenting with new technologies, mediums, and applications. Pushing the boundaries to create what seemed impossible then but is taken for granted today.  

I wasn’t at Overit 30 years ago, but my guess is that Dan didn’t always get it right the first time. Surviving his failures and total knockdowns gives him the confidence to take new risks and continue to innovate. 

Hardship is a gift. Knowing you’ve tackled hard things before gives you the confidence to do it again. 

5. Disappointment & accomplishment coexist.

It’s important to pick out that even in Giannis’ brilliant response, his disappointment over the loss is still very palpable. Just because he’s not calling it a failure doesn’t mean he takes it lightly or is unaffected by it. 

You can acknowledge failure and still be proud of what went well.

You can be grateful for all the good things and still want more. 

I can appreciate my friends' support while still mourning the one month a year that takes me to my knees.  

Life is more nuanced than "winning" and "losing." It forces us to experience opposing emotions side-by-side, to operate with faith and fear, and continue the story while navigating the challenges.

Kudos to Giannis for helping us remember.

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Overit Studios Wins Best Music Recording Studio 🤘

Did you know Overit has a recording studio built into the heart of our rehabbed church? We do!

Congratulations to Overit Studios for taking home the award for Best Music Recording Studio at The Eddies this weekend. The Eddies help shine a light on the incredible talent in the Capital Region's music scene, and we couldn't be more proud of the work our studio does for clients. 

(Congrats to our leader, Dan Dinsmore, whose band, The Clay People, won the Best Metal/Hard Rock Artist of the Year award. We're proud of you too, Dan.)

Got Plans Tonight? First Friday is Back!

We’re thrilled to announce the revival of First Friday Albany!

Join us tonight at Overit from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM to celebrate with a free event about The Power of Paper. We’ll be joined by local artists Abe Ferraro, Ruby Silvious, Mimi Castiglione-Santiago, Ashton Guy, and Lindsay McKeough.

Our friends at Mohawk Fine Papers, Finch Paper, and Circus will show you how to screenprint your very own event poster to take home. See you there? 

Here are some interesting reads for the week: 

• Grief & The Creative Brief: Mother’s Day is coming up. Father’s Day isn’t long after that. Let this be your reminder to make it easy for people to opt out of what may hurt them. 

• How brands can authentically participate in observances: My colleague Caitlin Nicholson gave some advice to help you identify when you should speak out and when you should…not.

• When to push, when to pivot, when to coast, when to quit: Tips for living in the flow.

• 8 Brands Meeting Consumers Where They Are: Brands like Costco and Airbnb are going a click deeper to understand and tend to consumer needs

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