Heeeeeere Fishy Fishy Fishy

One of my favorite classic Sesame Street moments (and I'm not too mature to admit that I have them) is the episode when Ernie and Bert are fishing.

Bert, as usual, is frustrated. He's been fishing for an hour to no avail. So he complains that there must not be any fish.

Ernie, as usual, is chipper and optimistic. There are fish, he insists, and he can catch them just by calling to them.

This episode used to make me laugh as a kid, it made me laugh as a new parent when my toddler watched it, and even now, it makes me laugh out loud.

Today, it seems as if this comic moment captures what I often encounter as a marketing consultant.

Business owners are frustrated that their marketing efforts don't yield what they want. The chipper consultant (that's me) shows up to say that their marketing messages may not be the right ones, or they may not be "heard."

And in the contract of consultant-and-client that ensues, there is a "teaching how to fish," experience.

In real life, however, it's just not as funny.

What is just as funny in real life is the news that hit the Internet this week about a salon in Washington, D.C. that gives fish pedicures: instead of razors, miniature carp eat dead skin and calluses from clients' feet.

Wow.

We marketers are forever advising businesses to be unique, but this just leaves me speechless, except to say "Heeeere fishy, fishy, fishy!"