I admit that sometimes, I do feel as if I’m treading the fine line between my job and who I am and what I stand for. To be quite honest, blogs for me were never meant for the marketers, for the PR mavens. Like many of you out there I’m sure, I m growing bored of this Gen-X, Gen-Y, Gen-lost debate that’s been running rampant lately, but to make matters simple, us Gen Y-ers like honesty. Sincerity is the name of the game, the adage of our ad-age. (Deleted: a comment on an agency, which I admit I was a little harsh about, but upon a review of the post, this blog is no place for naming and shaming, or snap judgements). Nowadays, we have a knack for sniffing out insincerity we despise it, and when detected you will be dismissed.

Checking out a recent Twitter link provided by servantofchaos on comment marketing, leading onto another link on guidelines for comment marketers, there seem to be oodles of guidelines lately for an industry that is ironically enough trying its hardest to be sincere. A not-so-recent, but definitely relevant blog post by Vkim encapsulates what social media means to us Gen-Y idealists: stuff the drama, get rid of the fuss. Just jump in, sink or swim. Use social media for your own purposes. Yes, when using it on behalf of promoting your product, make sure you use it according to a well-planned strategy to yield results (or you could be shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to all play and no work online). Use a strategy, but be passionate about what you’re promoting. For a person who wasn’t passionate about bread before, I’m finding it pretty surprising how personally involved I’ve become for another person’s cause. I’ll be the first to raise my hand that before joining team BB, I knew next to nothing about bread. I grew up thinking that crust was a hindrance, bread should be nothing but white, and that eating bread should emulate the experience of eating a piece of cloud:

I could eat that

– Soft, effortless and not requiring the use of teeth whatsoever. Now I can’t even think about buying supermarket bread, yes I do sometimes yearn for the days when I’d cram an entire slice of crustless white bread into my mouth, but having tasted what our bakers can produce here, and the thought and skills that go behind each loaf, I guess you can say I’ve literally ingested the passion.

What I find completely refreshing is to be inspired by someone or something, and to feed off that inspiration that drives you through every day. I am inspired by our artisan bakers’ dedication to the laborious process of hand-making every loaf, and the overall passion for artisan baking education here at Brasserie Bread. I have to admit, inspiration is not that hard to come by in a place that is filled with ideas, innovative thinkers, skilled and extremely varied characters (eg. Our ex-head baker was also a professional stuntman, and did you know that Sam in the Caf travelled with Cirque du Soleil?). Like I mentioned before, people can sniff out imposters, but you know you’re onto something when people are genuinely rooting for you (see our Kids Baking Classes comments), it drives you to want to succeed, to better the program, to increase exposure, and that all leads to a bigger cause, a cause that sees more people embracing healthy and nutritious eating, keeping alive the art of artisan baking, and creating an interest and passion for great food in younger generations.

I’m still trying to find my way through this murky world of marketing in channels where my personal life has a bigger stake in over my professional life, but what I’m realising is that marketing is, and has to be personal for me. And yes, I am blurring the lines between personal and professional ambitions, but it feels fantastic to truly own and embody the work you do. Plus I get to taste the results every day. Everybody wins 🙂

M