Susan Nanni was really impressed with Soul Plane when she saw us live in concert at the Opera House on June 19th. In fact, she was so enthused by and about our performance that instead of sticking around for the afterparty, she went straight home to speak with her husband, Carl. Her message to him was simple and to-the-point: Soul Plane was now ready for his input.
Most readers are probably wondering why anyone cares about what Carl Nanni has to say about anything. Here’s a tip: Carl was the former Executive Vice-President of Marketing for Kraft Canada. This means he played a huge part in the creation of their advertising campaigns. He had hands in the media promotion of several products that were distributed under the Kraft umbrella – Kool-Aid (his marketing genius helped make the Kool-Aid Man a thirst-quenching icon – “Oh Yeah!”), Maxwell House (“Good to the last drop!”), Philadelphia cream cheese (I can still see that lady with her angel wings flapping as she sits on a cloud eating the shit out of her cream cheese), as well as Kraft Dinner (my favourite commercial being the one where two college kids cook their KD in a pot on a dorm-residence central radiator and steam up the whole floor, forcing very sex-able girls to strip so as to off-set the heat). These products might not have done so well in the market had it not been for Carl Nanni’s input. But that was then.
These days, when he isn’t busy scratch-golfing in the backyard of his summer home down in Florida with his wife Susan and enjoying his semi-retirement status, Carl is a freelance consultant who charges his clients a negotiable $5000 per session. Apparently, a lot of people care about what Carl Nanni has to say about everything.
Soul Plane may not have the resources to compensate Carl for his $5000 consultation fee, but we do have the next best thing: his son, Kevin, our rhythm guitarist. Carl generously donated his services to the band this Saturday that just went by in helping us build a foundational groundwork from which we are then to construct a marketing/promotional plan with the sole aim of putting Soul Plane on the music industry map. Conor, Kevin, our new bassist Luke, and I were in attendance.
We started off with a “SWOT” analysis (acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). It has never dawned on me as it did at the meeting just how good we are at being honest with how shitty we are. Our list of weaknesses and threats filled up at least two-thirds of the page I was taking notes on. Mr. Nanni was being very encouraging, reminding us that knowing one’s own weaknesses is a crucial step to overcoming them on the path to success. That sounds very cute and pretty, but it doesn’t change the fact that we are the worst – and what’s more, it has just become a fact that has been confirmed on paper. After about two hours of interaction, Mr. Nanni was satisfied with what he had been able to write out about the band and its current situation – now that he had a background story laced with some solid facts, he told us he would call us all back in for another meeting scheduled tentatively for several weeks later. He just wanted to take time to chop up all the details we fed him throughout the session and think of a way for us to put ourselves as well as our music out there using what (little) resources we have access to.
Considering his numerous and substantial credentials, I have no reason to have anything but absolute faith in the man, that he will propel us to a better place than we are at now. In two weeks, maybe three, Carl Nanni will have the beginnings of some kind of formula, some type of guideline, a reference of sorts, laid out for Soul Plane to build on and follow... all the way to this “better place.” Maybe it’s a place where we can afford to pay an extra $0.50 for cheese on our Golden Star burgers right then and there and not have to put it on layaway.
Stay tuned as we slowly become not the worst thing you’ve ever stumbled upon on the Internet...
