The Ilham Winter 2010

25THE ILHAM A Journal of Contemporary Digital Policy WHAT CAN SHAKESPEARETEACH US ABOUT SOCIAL MARKETING? Gold, Silver and Lead Marketing Most of us read in school Shakespeare’s masterpiece,The Merchant ofVenice,in which three suitors for the hand of the“fair Portia” must choose one from among three caskets – one made of gold,one of silver and a third made of lead. Each casket contains a cryptic inscription. Portia’s beautiful image is secreted in one of the caskets, but each of the three suitors takes a different approach to selecting the “right” casket required to make Portia his wife. Of course,Shakespeare uses the casket images as allegories to how we think (clever playwright that he was). The gold casket’s inscription reads:Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.Sounds like a good deal.So the first suitor,the Prince of Morocco,chooses the gold casket,thinking that he’ll receive what many men desire – Portia and a lot of gold in casket form. The inscription on the silver casket reads: Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.Still sounds like a good deal.So the second suitor,the Prince ofArragon, takes a more logical,analytical approach.He considers his own worth and figures,hey,I’m going to win the hand of Portia because “I’m going to get what I’m worth.” The final coffin, the one made of lead, is inscribed:Who chooseth me must give and riskall that he has. Okay, not such a good deal, right? But the third suitor, a character named Bassanio, takes his time examining the three caskets and their inscriptions. By this point, the lovely Portia has fallen in love with Bassanio and, so, wants him to select the right casket. Bassanio takes the most analytical approach to making his choice in this classic tale of romance. He rejects the gold casket as a symbol of “outward shows,” aka it’s too ostentatious. He rejects the silver casket,calling it “a common drudge/Tween man and man.” So, Bassanio opts for the least attractive casket, the one made of lead, looking beyond appearances alone, and risking all that he has. Fortunately, Portia’s love, Bassanio, is able to see beyond the superficial, beyond the obvious, and sure enough, the lead casket is the one that contains the image of Portia.Thus, Bassanio, the most insightful of the three suitors, wins the contest for the hand of Portia, much to the relief of Portia and the audience. So, what we can learn from this analogy from the Bard of Avon? Especially in this day of the W3, RSS, SEO, conversion ratios and web site metrics. Well,one very important lesson we can learn is to look beyond appearances.We can also learn to use social media sites more effectively – and Shakespeare never even heard of LinkedIn or Facebook.Definitely a man ahead of his time.