Party Historical Fact

"I think it's safe to say this party has become a historical fact." Some Kind of Wonderful.

Party night unfolds.
Memories crystallize.
Now history is made.
A haiku for John Hughes.

The 80's storyteller. Movies that shaped a generation. Characters that filled high school halls. Music.

Andi, Watts, Samantha. I became an amalgamation of each one of them: outcast, rebel, conformist. The lure of dating a guy whose name was so long it needed two lines and a hyphen (not Blaine's bespoke BMW, but Jake's red Porsche). The ubiquitous candy apple red ride pulled up in the driveway (yes, it was his 16th birthday present). The draw to be different, the safe of sameness.

The draw starts at 15 (my mother claims 5, but that's another story). It was the first time I learned the power of brand. My own. My first company. Dinner. The only meal I knew how to cook. An all-cash business. Catering Mom's Society friends’ dinner parties every weekend (They were Madmen, in every form, including the decor) instead of hanging out at the mall. Charting a course. Exit. Zag.

43 years later. 30 exits. Zag. Again. 

Three principles.

Credit to Marty Neuemeier, Andy Star, and Level C.

Be different. No, REALLY DIFFERENT.

The first and only definition of brand is "a customer's understanding about a product, service, or company. It's not what you say it is; it's what THEY say it is."