In conversation with one of my soon to be Sister in laws, I drew the inspiration to write a lickle something explaining why I chose the title for the event, “BLACK ALCHEMY: The Science of Afrikan Centred Marketing Mastery”. In truth, I knew such a title would be a challenge to – well – market; and it’s a challenge I readily accepted, for reasons I will explain shortly.

 

But first, let me break down the psychology behind the title:

 

BLACK ALCHEMY: Alchemy is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “The medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir” and “A seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.”

 

In our 2016 Got Kush TV interview, our special guest and pioneering Guerrilla Marketing Guru, Aunkh Aakhu stated: “But there’s a higher aspect to Alchemy. The higher aspect to Alchemy is that the highest Alchemy you can do, is turn a human being into a divine being. In to a god state of consciousness. That means to be a creator or a producer, but not just a producer as in making things, but as a producer of high value in the world.”

 

So we are concerned with high value creation. But the term Alchemy speaks to the physical as well as the spiritual & mental as they all relate to each other, implying that if as we develop ourselves economically, we also take charge of our psychological, social and spiritual environment .

 

The term “Black” here simply identifies the people we are talking to. It also carries symbolic meaning – Black is the womb of creation, where thoughts and ideas are conceived to eventually be manifested.

 

SCIENCE: “the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment”. Simply emphasising that there is a tried and tested body of knowledge to what we are about to drop. Science is about identifying laws. Through our Art, or the application of what we have come to know, we discover new laws, develop new knowledge and when we apply these laws we achieve greatness.

 

AFRIKAN CENTRED: Rather like the word “Black” it identifies who we are speaking to and about. But even deeper, it identifies the culture we draw from for inspiration and therefore the culture we are trying to develop. In short, we are using Afrikan history culture and economic realities in order to find solutions to Afrikan problems. We are also stating that as much as Afrika has much to offer the world by way of song and dance; Afrika has much more to offer the world in terms of balanced economies, science, technology and the development of industries.

 

MARKETING MASTERY: “Marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating & delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market…” This definition from Philip Kotler is offered as useful by Aunkh Aakhu – the world’s leading Afrikan-Centred Marketing Guru. Therefore we are engaging in the process of becoming MASTERS at creating and delivering value to our community.

 

So that explains the title.

 

NOW – If I was being cynical, I would not have chosen this title. Popular wisdom would suggest you go with a title that allows for “mass appeal”. So maybe “GUERILLA MARKETING” or if we really wanted to push the boat out “BLACK GUERILLA MARKETING” may have been better ways to go – and in truth, these are worthy titles, nothing wrong with them at all. Some would even go as far as to suggest that associating the event with “Blackness” in any way would negatively affect the promotional value.

 

The truth is, we are responsive to certain language and symbolism based upon our familiarity with them. Our environment means that European culture dominates our senses and as a result of that marketing, we are more responsive to the signs, symbols and language associate with European ideas and products. By implication we are more responsive to the value created by Europe in relation its own culture(s) and therefore buy into whatever advances European society – often to the detriment of our own. In other words we value what is European more than we value ourselves.

 

In such an environment, the title BLACK ALCHEMY: The Science of Afrikan Centred Marketing Mastery is undoubtedly a risk – one that could make or break the event. So why decide to take such a risk? In answer – how do we become responsive to the signs, symbols ideas and products of Afrikan cultural and Black community development if we constantly hide them? All of us cant do the smoke, mirrors, cloak & dagger. Some have to step out boldly, unapologetically and unashamedly in associating High Value and success with Blackness and – with Afrikan Centredness.

 

As said, the above arguably more palatable titles are completely plausible and no doubt will be used at some point. But this time we decided to go all out, trusting completely in the value of what we have to offer, our ability to market it, and therefore lay strong foundation for whatever strategies we choose to employ in the future.

 

Join us for “BLACK ALCHEMY: The Science of Afrikan Centred Marketing Mastery”, as we become the highest value creators for our community and the world.

 

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