Yesterday, something popped up in my news feed that made me feel like I was in an episode of The Simpsons. The internet is truly becoming the wild west of what's true and what's false. In many cases, truth and falsehood don't actually matter anymore—it just depends on the majority vote. Imagine the frustration of being in a room full of flat-earthers while you're the only one who believes the world is a globe. You’d have no chance of convincing the room otherwise. As far as the truth confined in that room goes, the earth is indeed flat.

This is a broader conversation that I’m increasingly interested in, especially with the rise of ChatGPT and visual AI. But today, I want to focus on a small part of my day yesterday that fascinated me.

When Theo Von (The Rat King) met Donald J. Trump.

If you don’t know who The Rat King is, he’s best described as a recovering drug addict turned comedian who grew up in Louisiana. He’s a funny guy. His podcast is rapidly gaining popularity, and to give you an idea of how diverse his audience is, he interviews everyone from a garbage man in NYC to the sitting President of the United States.

There’s a moment in the interview where Theo, while talking about drugs, casually says:

“Cocaine will have you feeling like a damn owl, Homie.”

It’s bizarre. But, it’s actually a genius move by Donald.

When I first saw the clip pop up on my Instagram, I thought it was a joke. My mind couldn’t draw the connection as to why Donald would sit down with a comedian who seemingly interviews people so far removed from politics.

But if you ask me, it’s all about the popular vote. Donald says a lot of things that don’t make sense, aren’t fact-checked, or are just downright odd. But think back to my first example of fact and fiction. If the majority of people in the room believe it’s true, then it might as well be true.

So, why is it such a genius move?

It’s all about collaboration and brand association. Most people find it hard to get passionate about politics. There are so many other things in life to enjoy (like comedians) that help us escape the stresses and pressures of adulthood. While Donald does have a strong following of devoted Americans, the question becomes:

How do you connect with people who aren’t that passionate?

You find things they are passionate about and associate yourself with them. It’s such a powerful tool that brands use every day to hijack consumers' passion for other people or brands.

It’s really as simple as finding a group of people, identifying a hero to them, and associating yourself with that hero. Sure enough, the thought pattern for millions of people follows:

"I love The Rat King, he cracks me up."
"Oh look, Trump’s on his podcast."
"I don’t know who to vote for, and I can't be bothered doing my own research."
"If Trump is cool enough to go on Theo’s podcast, he’s got my vote."

Sometimes we overthink how to get people’s attention when it can really be that easy. It’s a sound strategy.

Tauranga election

This reminds me a bit of a local election we had here in Tauranga. A good friend of mine ran and gave it her best shot. I was sure she was going to win. But when election day came, I was disappointed to see her name in the second spot.

Now, this could be due to many different factors, obviously, but after an interesting conversation with a few people, I started to see the power of communicating with people who don’t really care, or who are so on the fence they can be swayed by seemingly irrelevant things.

I don’t have hard facts on this—it’s merely the opinion of a few people I talked to—but the man who won was named Rick. His slogan was Pick Rick. He backed it up with cute images of funny animals like donkeys, which have nothing to do with politics. What likely happened is that Pick Rick was fun to say, and the kids liked the animals. So when kids heard their parents say the most common phrase during election time, “I don’t know who to vote for,” the kids would pipe up from the back seat and say, “Pick Rick.”

Simple? Silly? Effective?
All of the above.

The path to communication isn’t always the most obvious. It’s not always the most intelligent, logical, or brilliant. Sometimes it’s simple. But the moral of the story is, it’s not always you, your brand, or your product that gets people's attention. Especially when you’re trying to talk to someone new. It can be about finding other things that your audience likes and injecting your brand into that space.

Do it well, and I guarantee you’ll gain more attention just through association.

Watch Theo's full interview here