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Dyngus Day

Branding with King Dyngus

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Dyngus Day is three weeks away from today and it’s one of my favorite holidays for a number of debaucherous  reasons and I wanted to talk about an idea I had and wrap it into another thought to answer a common question. What is branding? Branding is a marketing function to get people to know your product where marketing is a function to get people to buy it. Branding is the “why” and marketing is the “how.” Branding builds loyalty and / or create value. So what are your brand values? 

 

I love Dyngus Day! It is one of my favorite days of the year. It is often called “Polish Mardi Gras” since Mardi Gras is the day before Lent starts and Dyngus Day is the day after it is over and you can go back to all the bad things you couldn’t do for the previous 40 days. In Poland it is a holiday of joyous festivities and in the US it is sponsored by beer companies in various regions that celebrate it. Not everyplace celebrates it and that saddens me because everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day! I ended up being in Los Angeles on Dyngus Day one year and I know it’s not wide spread there but obviously the Polish restaurants will celebrate it. No. I called every Polish restaurant in LA County…all three of them. One was closed for the day when I called, one answered and said they are closed on Monday’s and when I asked about Dyngus Day she seemed to have no idea what I was talking about and the third was permanently closed but Google had not been updated yet. So I had a Long Island iced tea at a Mexican restaurant in Barstow and wept a tad for society.

 

I currently use the URL and hashtag of TheMichaelBeebe as my primary brand and moniker but I am thinking of creating a secondary brand for myself called “King Dyngus” or “KingDyngus” for the hashtag and username I would post under for that site. The goal is to talk about Dyngus Day and create an area of exchange for Dyngus-related activities around the United States. My life’s work would be summed up by being able to find a local pub crawl on the day after Easter anywhere in the country. I think this all says more about the trajectory of my life than anything else, but it’s fun and celebrating Dyngus Day has become part of my personal branding. 

 

I would have information about what cities offer Dyngus Day celebrations and allow various people to blog about things they have done on Dyngus Day, like the girl dancing topless in the bar or the guy pissing in the planter on the sidewalk and no one cared because it was Dyngus Day. Dyngus Day can be wild fun or a family-friendly celebration of endless Polish food. South Bend and La Porte are some twenty miles apart but in South Bend most Dyngus Day activities focus on activities for various clubs and organizations around town to raise money and in La Porte we have a shuttle that takes us from bar to bar and the bars on the route, I have heard, can earn as much as one-third of their yearly income on that day. Neither town does a parade like Cleveland or Buffalo do and some even have a Dyngus Day Queen. Both La Porte and South Bend use it to kick off political season with politicians doing from event to event because part of our local tradition is to get the politicians drunk so they can’t lie to us for once and the May Primary is roughly a month after. 

 

I find the differences in celebration methods interesting to say the least which creates an overall macro brand and marketing locally is the micro activity…just as in the general branding-marketing relationship. Branding is the macro and marketing is the micro.

 

I sincerely hope this clears up any and all confusion you have over the differences between marketing and branding and exactly what a brand is. I hope I defined a brand pretty well here.

 

Please like this if it helped you, share it with a friend who can benefit from it and / or tag that friend so they can see it. Share on your social and please tag me at @TheMichaelBeebe on all things social or use #TheMichaelBeebe or #MichaelBeebe. Also, if you got something out of this, please follow my social. There’s a lot of it! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at Discussion@TheMichaelBeebe.com.

 

For more from Michael, please go to TheMichaelBeebe.com. Thank you!

Bucket List Item Failure: Dyngus Day

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One of my bucket list items is to celebrate Dyngus Day and document it. Dyngus Day has a great tradition in Poland and Polish Americans have adopted it across the country…and totally different. A few years ago I wrote an article about Dyngus Day (aptly titled the same) and its genius marketing and it is a day I have always been a fan of. I do need to apologize for the possibility that the piece will be hard to read. The pictures don’t always align that well on some devices and it may show them at odd places. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal for most.

According to Wikipedia, in Poland Dyngus Day is, “Traditionally, boys throw water over girls and spank them with pussy willow branches on Easter Monday, and girls do the same to boys. This is accompanied by a number of other rituals, such as making verse declarations and holding door-to-door processions, in some regions involving boys dressed as bears. The origins of the celebration are uncertain, but it may date to pagan times (before 1000 AD); it is described in writing as early as the 15th century. It continues to be observed in Central Europe, and also in the United States, where certain patriotic American elements have been added to the traditional Polish ones.” In America it differs from community to community. Buffalo, New York has a big parade and a Dyngus Day Queen and Cleveland is similar. South Bend, Indiana has a few bars and private clubs with a bus route. Much of the money raised on Dyngus Day goes to benefit the club’s pet projects or to charities. Political candidates go from bar to bar to campaign during the day. It’s a lot of fun. In La Porte, Indiana (where I spent the bulk of my day), it’s a big pub crawl. Bars earn an estimated twenty-five to thirty-five percent of their annual profits on just this one day. They hire a shuttle bus company to take people from bar to bar because it’s big money. There are always ten to twelve bars on the route and you get a button at each bar you stop at. I was once told that you can still get a button even if you only drink water, but I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life. I added the link to the Facebook page of the various places I visited. 

At 9AM Centeal, Brandon picked me up at my house to take me to breakfast with the news that he has a job interview at 11:30 today. So it was a quick trip to South Bend, but that’s cool. It’s just breakfast. 

(Note 1: Please understand that I am not editing the stop-by-stop account of the day to show the possible effects of alcohol on a person. This should be a fun little experiment.)

 

(Note 2: I have not had anything to drink in about two months to simulate Lent and as such, I have to tolerance for alcohol at this time.)

 

In the words of Hannibal Lecture, “Okey-dokie, let’s get started!

Stop 0: ZB Falcons. South Bend, Indiana.

Brandon and I went there to eat mostly. Because of South Bend being on Eastern time and I live in Central, it’s a late (10AM) breakfast my time or 11 for them. I ate a sausage sandwich (Polish sausage), Polish wedding noodles, and a large cheese pierogi. The plate had sweet and sour cabbage which is a big Polish thing but I hate cabbage. Growing up, mother tried getting me to eat that crap too much and just the smell gets to me. Sorry for the diatribe of unresolved childhood issues. Anyway, I also had a shat of blackberry brandy and a margarita Jell-O shot. Next I’ll go home and do a few things, then run to Michigan City for a much needed shave and a hair cut (head shave).

Shave and a haircut (head shave). Franklin Street Barbers. Michigan City, Indiana.

I feel great! They do an excellent job and I always walk out feeling like a new man. If anyone wonders why I have someone else do it for me instead of doing it myself since it’s fairly easy, they’ve simply never had it done. Any man who wonders why a man would have someone do that, deserves to have his man card suspended till he’s had one. It is worth the price and the service is amazing. I had to add a before and after. See how much happier I am after?

Pregame. La Porte Best Western. La Porte, Indiana.

So I sat up the booze in my room that Brandon and I both brought and an assortment of stuff to make the day go well and be fun. In the past I have been warned against presuming Dyngus Day and perhaps they were right. I completed the route last year but I did pregame it and that may have been a mistake.

Stop 12 Part 1 (Or 0.2). Rother’s Pub. La Porte, Indiana.

I am checked into the the La Porte Best Western. and Rother’s is the 12th bar on the route, so we can grab the bus here and start on the route at the first bar, so it just makes sense to have a couple drinks here. Right? This is more or less a continuation of our pregame exploits.

Stop 1. Casey’s Lanes. La Porte, Indiana.

Ok. So I’m already drunk from the pregame and I can see already that tonight is a bad idea. This is a bowling ally and they’ve done a decent job with it. At 6:45 pm the place is over half full. My posse is one person though it was supposed to be a group. Whatever! I have bourbon and my friend so we are all good!

Stop 4. PRCU. La Porte, Indiana.

I’m feeling it. We went out of order to meet up with Amy and Daniel. I just ate the saddest Polish dinner I’ve ever had at a Polish place. Fortunately I’ve had more bourbon so I’m ok. I’m seeing now that I’m drunk enough that my post is rather short. No! I am still sad! I want their Polish cards taken away from them!

Stop 5. JJs Side Out. La Porte, Indiana.

Oh god! I’m only a quarter oh the way through! I got this? Kaluski noodles and another bourbon and sprite should help. I like this bar. It had a bad reputation in town before but it’s better. I think this is the one I tried walking from last year and Ryan had to come get me so I didn’t get lost. I’m feeling it nor.

Stop 2. Dicks Bar. La Porte, Indiana.

We got Amy to drive us! Hell yeah! You like this place. This seems to be the place to be. We stayed at the last place e too long and now we have 2 hours to do 7 more bars. I’m not sure I can last. You know you’re in a bar in Indiana when you see guns as decorations in a case. Haha!!!!

Stop 3. Burger Bar. La Porte, Indiana.

More food at last. I need subtype to eat. I’ve never eaten here before but I hear the food if. I’m peckish but not hungry like the hippo. They only have the fryer going so mozzarella stix it is. Hellz to the yeah! I want food. The food was awesome. I’m also really drunk right now. Maybe the Long Island wasn’t the best choice here. The second one was definitely not a great idea. Hot chix in the dance floor though so I’m gonna chill for a bit and enjoy. Pregame was a mistake. I should have done the route in order and just post games this shit. Fuck I’m drunk!

Stop 12 Part 2. Rother’s Pub. La Porte, Indiana.

Brandon decided to tuen in early. I decided I needed two more long islands. That may have been a big mistake. Anyway, Amy and Daniel also left so I am making new friends at the bar. Thank God for autocorrect or no one could see what I am writing. The busses are stopped having running now and I think I am done after this drink.

It’s kind of fun to see after this how my grammar and spelling deteriorated through the night.

 

 

Sometimes we can’t complete our goals and we need to learn from our failures. That was the case this year. My bucket list item was to finish the route and document it. I did finish last year but I wanted to do that this year with documentation. So next year I will take some lessons away with me and be ready to finish:

1. I will be ready to start the route immediately upon checking in to the hotel.

2. I won’t pregame in the room. Post game, sure, but not pregame.

3. Do the route in order. Don’t skip around.

4. Get my haircut and shave on Friday or Saturday before to look pretty, not the day of.

5. Eat more at the Falcon Nest in South Bend before hand.

6. Postgame! There is no need to take booze with. You can post game with Long Islands after at Rother’s till they close.

7. Don’t let Amy distract me with “I’m at another bar and I guess you guys won’t see me” crap. The route gets done in order!

With those seven key tips, I should be able to do the entire route with full documentation next year. I will see you in La Porte Monday, April 22, 2019. Lets achieve our goals together!

 

For more from Michael Beebe, please read his blog on TheMichaelBeebe.com.

Dyngus Day

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Happy Dyngus Day!!! (“Szczęśliwa Dyngus Dni” in Polish) is an awesome Polish holiday. In the US we celebrate it a little bit differently than in Poland. In Poland, it is more of an impromptu wet tee shirt contest and in the US, we may see nudity, but it’s just because people forgot where they put their clothes while drinking. So what is this holiday with a funny name? It’s a Polish holiday. I equate it to being Polish Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is the day before Lent starts where you go out and do all of the bad stuff that you can’t do for the next fourty days till after Easter. Dyngus Day is the day after Easter so it, like Mardi Gras, is not a set date, but based on the date of the Easter holiday. For a quick read on Dyngus Day, CLICK HERE and get some history on the day. So it’s a bit different in the US and where I live, La Porte, Indiana, it’s REALLY different. It’s just a drinking holiday. We turn our city transportation bus into a drunk-wagon and we have a city-sponsored pub crawl around La Porte.

 

So why does anyone care? Just read on. You’ll get it. If you are from San Francisco, you probably have never heard of Dyngus Day, but I guarantee the beer rep to your local bar knows very well what Dyngus Day is. So how do we celebrate it? Locally it is celebrated on other communities as well, but none like La Porte. In South Bend, it’s a big deal as well, but they have polka bands and Polish food. You eat, drink, and you are merry. In La Porte, it is a city-sponsored pub crawl and it is fun! Bars in Indiana can open at 7AM. By 8AM, some bars already have over-served people, but there is an “unofficial” suspension of public intoxication laws (along with public indecency and indecent exposure). The police just don’t have the time to deal with this. Our city buses take drunks around from bar to bar on the route, with one bus being reserved for the mayor and her closest friends. New Years Eve is just a practice run for Dyngus Day in La Porte. Expect shitty service and long wait-times. That’s the norm today. The bars simply don’t have the manpower to serve well and why should they? They are making money hand over fist today. Every beer rep knows about Dyngus Day because of the amounts of money that is brought in today. It is amazing. By some estimates, bars bring in an entire third of the money for the whole year just today.

 

The local Tavern Owner’s Association pretty much runs today. There are ten bars on the bus route. They fill out an application form and are paid members of the association. The ten bars are chosen based on their history of being on the route in previous years and if someone dropped out of the route, you can maybe get one of the coveted spots. Even bars not on the route make a killing today. The money flows in like tequila goes down for every local bar. It is perfectly acceptable for people to call off work today to “to dyngusing” and many offices will just be closed today since no one will show up to work. Tomorrow is the day for Dyngus Day hangover call offs. Either way, the money coming in is fantastic.

 

So what does any of this have to do with Full Tilt Business? I talk about marketing a lot in my pieces and this is nothing but a marketing holiday and it relies heavily on social marketing and standard marketing. Every bar you go to in town has the Miller signs that are locally advertising Dyngus Day and that individual bar and the Bud Light Girls are usually in town for the day. The Tavern Owner’s Association is constantly updating the Facebook page and working with each and every bar on the route. Each of these bars works in unison because the social advertising, beyond just a single social media outlet, is required for today to be a success. You will see Twitter, texting apps, Facebook, Google+, and just about every other social media outlet out there and brand everything they possibly can. Market branding is essential for a day like today to take shape. Instead of competing, each business on the route works together and everyone is successful. The Tavern Owner’s Association has moved beyond competition and into the realm of cooperation of its members.

 

The question I am posing now (yes, the thesis is in the fifth paragraph) why do businesses feel the need to compete when locally, cooperation seems to be working better? Can tattoo shops, shoe stores, restaurants, hotels, nail salons cooperate with each other and work to make everyone’s business stronger among various segments? Without price-fixing, businesses that work together with other businesses succeed more than those that do not. What does every billionaire businessman have in common with each other? They all work with others. The thing we were all graded on in kindergarten that said “works well with others” is the thing that determines success in business. I believe this factor to be the single most important trait in business. The deals that a business owner makes with the interests of others in mind will be what makes the business successful. The ten bars on the Dyngus Day route and the Tavern Owner’s Association know this first-hand. Local trade organizations for your industry are essential to your success and the ability to work within the trade groups. In an absence of these groups or if they are too expensive to join, please consider meeting with your competition and make them your cooperative. Farmers have used this method for decades with the co-ops and have done so successfully because they have a shared commodity. The co-op method can turn your local industry into a commodity.

 

Na zdrowie!

 

For more pieces like this, please go to website for Michael Beebe, Spark Plug Strategies, or Full Tilt Business.