Promotion

No, I did not get a promotion.  I am still happily an AD and Editor. Here, I'm referring to the other kind of "promotion," which is perhaps not as personal, but in many cases, is just as important.

One of the things I have learned during my 25 years working in television is that no matter how hard you work on the product, and no matter how special that product may be, it becomes almost worthless unless it is promoted--presented to the audience, ideally a wide audience, as a "must-see." As the saying goes, if a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
 
I have been fascinated with the whole promotion aspect of the soaps online venture. While there has been a great deal of buzz created by the work of publicity and promotion departments, a lot of the "spreading the word" that I've seen has been Facebook posts from members of the creative and production teams. There is a personal attachment, a personal stake in it all, which translates into that often elusive promotion. People are proud of the product, and they have found ways to be part of making it a "must-see."
 
Personally, I have never been all that good at promotion, self- or otherwise. It's not easy to toot your own horn, though, heaven knows, it's useful in both networking and job searching, which I've spent a lot of time doing this past year. But the success of promotion in the case of this soap endeavor is a reminder of how important it is to get that word out. Otherwise, no one will hear that tree fall. And no matter how great you, or your projects are, no one will see them stand tall.