I am tempted to call this year a shitshow beyond compare. But that, at least on a personal level, wouldn’t do it justice. I refuse to surrender to the feeling of hopelessness that comes with focusing on all the bad things. They do exist, and they do affect my life big time, but they are not the only things that matter. 

So I tried to look back at this year and focus on the positive parts. And I didn’t even have to look far to find them. I am proud, happy and grateful to have taken up learning to sketch and paint, to have dealt with the loss of my dog, to have started tackling some health issues, to have traveled to Venice, to have taken hard, but necessary decisions, to have quit smoking, to have met inspiring new people, to have been brave for so many times this year.

I am not the biggest fan of ‘positivity’ as the main focus in life. By now, everybody probably knows that positivity can easily get toxic. Like, ignoring the bad things that happen all around would lead to a standstill: nothing can change for the better if people don’t take action against injustice (or even just annoyances) – and they can’t take action if they don’t see what is happening. 

Yes, I tend to see the negative more than the positive. It’s all the more necessary to look at and acknowledge what is good in your own life. Especially in times of crisis. With the year 2022 coming to a close, I’ll also lose my job of more than 10 years soon. This ending has me wondering what or who I will be after that. It’s a challenge that scares me as I don’t yet know what will come after that. But that uncertainty also means that there will be so many new opportunities. I am not too worried, but of course, this matter concerns me. I hope that I can  tackle this challenge in 2023 and that looking at what is good around me and what is good for me will help me!

Presenting values has always been an important part in marketing and communications. During the last months or maybe even years) it has become all the rage, though. Mind you, nowadays it’s not about the value the product, comapany or – shortly – brand proposes to its potential customers. Instead, it’s about human values, about ethics and morality.

Brands are supposed to comment on where they stand on a larger socio-cultural and political scale. Now, here’s the dilemma: quite a few recipients will perceive explicit statements as “corporate fig leafs” just to make more sales.

Still, I am convinced that it is integral to show your attitude as a brand – not to make more sales or to be more recognizable or whatever fits your brand marketing strategy. But plainly to contribute to a better society, to show that e.g. racist or anti-democratic attitudes are inacceptable and shouldn’t be perceived as majority opinions or to not normalize abusive or discriminative behaviour by just silently accepting them.

Do brands have to have a polished CSR strategy in place or do they have to comment on politics or current affairs explicitly, though? Not necessarily, as direct comments might as well backfire. Many brands can’t deliver on this in an authentic and believable way, as they might have never stood for anything except for their products and their respective characteristics.

Opinions and beliefs are tightly bound to humans, so most likely it’s easier for companies that are strongly associated with certain persons. That’s why it’s presumably way easier for e.g. Ben & Jerry’s, a brand that is identified with its founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, to comment on the events at the Capitol than it is for AXE. Still, even AXE managed to decently pick up on the events and express a clear opinion about it:

Funny enough, both brands are owned by Unilever, one of the biggest corporations worldwide. What both brands/companies have in common, one can assume, is that they have had a clear stance on their values long before the need to comment on anything arose.

And this is exactly the point: there is no need to explicitly comment on current events, but to be crystal clear about the values you have and would like to represent. It is way more important to live and act by your values every day, than to post something witty or concerned about current events. It is way more valuable to implement your values into how your company operates, to take your employees on board and hold them (and yourself, of course) accountable, so that your values won’t end up as a lip service. It makes way more sense to anchor your values deeply in day-to-day business than to make a one-off donation for a cause, stating “Hey, look at us, we’re doing good deeds!”.

It might still be relevant to explicitly state your values, so as not to leave the stage or certain subjects to those who are and work against freedom, democracy, equality etc. And, of course, there is nothing wrong with making donations for causes near and dear to you or, let’s say, with volunterring – nor with using your good deeds in communications, as well (though it’s highly likely that it if you only do it for communicative purposes, people will be able to notice that and won’t approve).

But first and foremost, it’s important to know where you (your brand/company) stand and what you represent – and to stick by it. So while being able to concisely list all the values of your product, don’t neglect your social responsiblity the deeper layer of values that contribute to society as a whole.

I feel with everyone who is feeling insecure in this fragile time. Still, in a most selfish way, I am also thankful and happy about many things that 2020 brought — even though I don’t know where they will lead me in 2021.

Here’s a couple of things that made me get through this year without losing it, things that made me smile, feel grateful for or even feel a little proud of myself.

• My furry companion
  
  I am deeply thankful that I am still able to share my life with my dog Mika. At the beginning of 2020, we were on the edge of losing him forever. But he is a fighter and we managed to get him „up and running“ again.
  
  Due to the pandemic, I was allowed to work mostly from home and thus could spend time with him and take care of him. And though 2020 challenged us again in the last couple of days and my boy had to endure another stay at the clinic, I am happy to have him back with me as I write this, to see him eating, sleeping, breathing, to snuggle up and venture out together.
  
  Here’s to the coming days, weeks, months we will have at each other’s sides.
  
• Feel-good games
  
  Games that took my mind off the nerve wrecking news and made me feel cozy and at home or even made me step out of my comfort zone. Don’t expect any super-secret insider’s tips here:
  
  I was obsessed with playing Animal Crossing New Horizons during the first lockdown (which thankfully wasn’t event that strict in Germany) and even created a booth for Gamescom showing the games Mixtvision publishes. I haven’t really played since August, instead I’ve taken up Animal Crossing Pocket Camp.
  
  Pokémon has been a constant companion this year. Though I enjoyed playing the Sword and Shield DLCs (Crown-Tundra more than Isle of Armor), my (probably) most played and (maybe) most loved game of the year is Pokémon Go. I digged many of the changes Niantic made to accomodate for the various restrictions the pandemic brought and the content they added.
  
  Among Us has been soooo addictive and so much fun to play, I wouldn’t even have thought. Plus, super-fun random encounters with people from all over the world.
  
  Diablo III, but on PC for the first time this year. I am definitely more of a console player, but now I am working towards mastering my first season with mouse and keyboard — and I am a little proud of myself that I’ve made the jump.
  
• Community
  
  Now if you wonder what made me try out gaing on PC, there’s an easy explanation for that: other people! My husband joined a WoWs clan this year and while that game is not for me, the clan decided that they would still “adopt” me to play other games together. By now, we are enjoying Diablo III and Among Us together and have been pen-and-papering (another first for me!) regularly for the last couple of weeks. I really appreciate their support, their openness, their humor, empathy and support.
  
  Another huge win for me was joining a community of communications professionals in the games industry. It’s great to see how open and supportive this community is and I am so happy to be able to listen and learn from them.
  
• Yoga
  
  I started getting into Yoga last year but have really taken it up in 2020 (yes, even before lockdown). I love how I can feel the effects of it in every possible way, mentally and physically. The last couple of weeks have been really trying for me so I let the regular practice slide a bit. I try not to judge myself for it, but to let time lead me back to it.
  
• Physical wellbeing
  
  For the larger part of the year, I took really good care of my diet: I switched to a mostly vegan diet and gave up sugar almost completely. Again, the last weeks have been a bit harsh on me and I couldn’t resist the craving for chocolate. Then again, it’s winter and it’s perfectly fine to treat yourself to some sweets and gain a little winter flab, right?
  
  I also tried out osteopathy and did all sorts of little things to take care of my body, definitely something I intend to keep up in 2021, as well.
  
• Education
  
  Finally started a training course to expand my professional horizons, so by February I’ll probably be able to add “certified digital brand manager” to my resume. I really enjoy the input I get from the course and my mind’s constantly busy trying to find ways to put the newly gained knowledge into practice.
  
• Job
  
  Though 2020 held some special challenges in store for marketers and communicators and we had a major delay in our release plans at work, I was delighted to see two of the games we publish successfully shipped to additional platforms and have upcoming titles featured at events like IGF, Indie Megabooth, id@Xbox Spotlight, Guerrilla Collective Showcase / The MIX, The Escapist Showcase, IGN at Gamescom, IndieCade or The Game Awards Festival on Steam.
  

Some other tidbits I enjoyed in 2020:

• “Unter Pfarrerstöchtern” podcast — I am not much of a religious person, but I love the mixture of history, literary analysis, and references to current day topics they manage to convey by re-telling some of the main stories of the Bible. I hope they will expand this format to other main religious texts later on (though I guess it will still take quite a bit of time until they get through the Bible…).
• Getting a new hardware setup at my desk at home — keyboard, mouse and most of all a new monitor ftw!
• Binge watching series on Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney+ on a new TV — definitely a good investment this year.
• Holidays in the foothills of the Alps — I just love a good mountain view.
• Smoothies and porridges — what’s not to like!
• Getting into blogging again — weeeeeell, here you are…

I could probably go on and on, but most of all I am thankful that my loved ones are safe and healthy. I am also super-proud of my husband who grows beyond himself to take care of our little family and in addition managed to start a YouTube channel recently. Who knows, maybe I’ll join him for a video or two next year…

Anyway: let’s hope for less interesting times in 2021 — stay safe, healthy and happy!

I’m often in awe with and admire people whose biographies straight up reflect their passions, people whose career path seem to have been crystal clear in every step they take from early age on. You know, like on “About” pages by freelance consultants and other professionals, as in: “I bought my first stocks when I was 11 years old, became a billionaire by the age of 20 and now I share all my insights with you.” or “I got my first puppy when I was 6, raised and trained it while walking all dogs of my neigborhood on a daily basis and now I am one of the most renowned dog training specialists in the whole country.” This counts true, too, for people who make a 180° turn in their lives, because they might have followed “society’s expectations” for a while but then found that their true calling had been there all along and they finally follow the path that lay in front of them since, let’s say, they went to kindergarten. Those kind of people.

I am legion legend

For me, this would probably mean that I should be a My Little Pony-riding veterinarian who fights for justice and the environment with their Gameboy in one hand while writing novels about ballerinas with the other. But … I’m not. On the other hand, I could probably say something about me like “I’ve loved to gather information and edit it in a way so that other people enjoy it and want to know more about it” or “My entrepreneurial spirit led me to found, manage and market a magazine during my student days”. Notice something?

While the building blocks of biographic narrations may (or may not) be true, the final biographies usually have on thing in common: deliberate omissions. That is how you build a legend around a person: you leave out the things that don’t align with the core concept that you would like to convey about them – or you integrate random other aspects as opponents, things that had to be overcome to become the depicted person. And in the end, you get a very straightforward image of the person without any contradictions.

This process – best to be paired with some other techniques – is, of course, also called personal branding. And by now, it should have become clear, that the brand or image never portrays the person as a whole. I mean, come on, who on earth was really solely occupied with stock markets or training puppies when they were young? Leaving out information serves the purpose of depicting an image that is easily readable and that has a chance to stick with the beholder by delivering a single congruent message.

Painting your image

Soooo, what’s true for building an image about persons can’t be false for building images about products or companies, as well, right? Well, yes and no: of course, you do want your products / company to be easily readable, i.e. to convey the most important USPs in a way that can easily be understood and digested. This counts true all the more with attention spans growing ever shorter in the digital age. And of course, you would like your product / company to instantly spring to mind as soon as a (potential) customer thinks about feature or concept X.

To identify the most remarkable features and focus on them is the key here – to draw the main subject of your image, so to speak! It is most likely, that you would also like to be associated with secondary characteristics to paint the bigger picture. Think about it like choosing the colors, brushes and techniques you use to paint it and the surroundings you add to the picture (or, the tone and placement / platform you choose for your communications).

Still, to focus on certain aspects doesn’t necessarly mean to withhold others completely. It depends on who you target at a certain point of communication, where you do it and which part of the funnel you expect that person to be at. Fleeting communication via social media will need a different way of “legend building” than email marketing or preparing information for your corporate website. Just always make sure that the image is still congruent even as it gets more detailed on the way down the funnel.

Take aways

1. identify what you would like your legend to sound or look like, i.e. what you intend to be known for and identified with
2. concentrate on and highlight highly recognizable parts of the bigger picture
3. integrate these parts in your communication and repeat them like a mandala mantra
4. you want to get people to also get a look at them from different angles
5. add more details for curious “spectators” who come closer to get a better view of the overall picture

If you have nothing to say, say nothing.     

Mark Twain

This is a firm belief of mine and I’ve probably spent most of my life trying to act accordingly. Combine that with an overconsciousness about appearances and not wanting to make oneself vulnerable and – voila – communication breakdown.

So, the big question is: Do I have anything to say? Sure, everybody has, right? But so many others have already expressed their opinion, already shared their insights, already summed up their expriences – about topics in my professional field as well as about stuff I’m interested in in general.

There’s tons of information already out there. That leads to the question if I can add anything of value to that? The obvious answer is: absolutely, you can add your own voice! Now here’s the thing: While I’d like to put myself out there more, I’ve spoken of and for others for so many years by now, that I’m not even sure anymore what my own voice sounds like.

When I think back I find that writing used to be my way of expressing myself – a creative, relieving outlet of feelings, ideas, thoughts, be it in the form of poetry or a blog post. That being said, I will try to tap into that current (by now, more of a brooklet) again to articulate some of the things that bustle in my brain on this website and maybe find my voice along the way.

There is nothing more meaningful than being true to yourself and finding your own voice. 

Jane Fulton Alt