*exhale* this might help a little

Back in my days building brands on college campuses, I used to run a play I called perceived ubiquity.

The goal was simple: pick one small campus in a target city and saturate it with the brand. Not just casually—relentlessly. Swag, ads, flyers slapped on every flat surface, chalk on the sidewalks, post-its on bathroom stalls—if there was a square inch of visibility, we were on it.

The idea? Make it impossible to walk across campus without seeing the brand ten times. And when you see something everywhere, it starts to feel important. Relevant. Like it matters.

And here’s the thing: it worked.

It worked so well that college kids got the logo tattooed on their bodies (enough of them, that I still feel guilty about it).

Why did it work? Because perception is reality.

If something feels ubiquitous, it is ubiquitous.
If it seems powerful, it is powerful.
If it feels like it matters, well—it matters.

Perception is reality.

Who said that first?

Oh, right—Lee Atwater.

If that name doesn’t immediately make your skin crawl, let me ruin your day (before I, hopefully, make it better).

Lee Atwater was a Reagan-era Republican strategist. Deputy Director of Reagan’s second campaign. Campaign Manager for George H. W. Bush. Architect of the Southern Strategy—a masterclass in dog-whistle politics designed to manipulate fear, amplify division, and weaponize racism for political gain.

He was a bad dude.

But he wasn’t wrong about that one thing: perception is reality.

If you can tell someone a compelling story about their world and reinforce it constantly, it doesn’t matter if that story is true— it matters if it feels true.

You might be looking at the shitstorm news and thinking:

Trump has so much power.

The velocity of executive orders coming out of the White House, the endless press conferences, the constant nausea-inducing notifications— it feels like a lot is happening quickly, and it’s all scary.

Trump has so much power.

That feels true.

But is it true?

Only a month ago, Joe Biden held that position. Did you perceive the Office of The President to be nearly as powerful then?

Well, um, no I guess not.

What changed?

Perceived ubiquity.

Trump is everywhere. It’s a strategy Steve Bannon coined as “flooding the zone.” Be pervasive. Make it impossible not to see your face everywhere. Give the media so much to report on that no one can focus on whether or not any of it happens.

Tell a compelling, chaotic story of power. Create the feeling of real power. And maybe, if people believe the story of your power is true, they'll give up their own more willingly. Maybe, they'll forget they have any power at all.

We don’t have to believe something just because it feels true.

As marketers, we can see through the story.

We know the tricks. We know how to manufacture urgency. We know how to make smoke and position mirrors.

That’s how we can help.

We can look behind the chaos narrative to ask:

1. Who wrote the story I’m being told?

2. Is it even true?

3. Who stands to gain if we believe it?

Then— we can reshape it.

The same skills that convinced college kids to get tattooed logos (sorry again) can be used to create something better. To throw sand in the gears of those who wish to harm us. To shape narratives of community, connection, and care. To tell stories that return power to the people who always held it in the first place: all of us, together.

Find a way to use your skills to build a reality that you actually want to participate in.

And when you feel like the world is being shaped by forces beyond your control, remember this:

You’re a marketer. You know how the machine works.
And that means, you know how to break it.

With love and disobedience,

Sarah

‍