Funny Marketing of Funny Money

Many of you would have received emails or other social media contacts, offering a free copy of a cartoon book by me and Miguel Guerra called Funny Money. The marketing has been "funny" as well, when compared to my normal communications—so much so that many people have assumed it's a scam.

It's not: the marketing campaign is at my behest, though the language and marketing methods were set by the firm that first approached me with the idea. Their proposal was to use some "hooks"—including a copy of Funny Money—to get people's attention, and then to market a set of "Mastermind" lectures by me to paying customers.

Their marketing has been successful, with thus far about 100 people signing up for a set of 9 lectures by me that I repeat every 9 weeks (with improvements as I go along of course). The first sequence of lectures finished at the beginning of February, and I'm giving the second lecture in the sequence—on Money—this week (Thursday at 6pm London time). These are the lectures:

1. When and why did economics go wrong?

2. The role of money in economics

3. Where "Minsky Moments" come from

4. Modelling the economy as a complex system

5. Theories of Value

6. The Economics of Climate Change

7. What should microeconomics actually be about?

8. Modelling with Minsky

9. Analyzing data with Ravel

It's been a pleasure for me to give a set of lectures again, five years after leaving the university sector, and the discussions with the participants have been first rate as well.

That said, I know some of the marketing has been off-putting, and the firm realises this too now. I fully understand people thinking this is a scam—which is why I'm writing this post, to assure you that it's not.

The firm is changing their language and methods (originally they only worked through social media like WhatsApp; now they're including email as well) in response to the critical feedback.

I also have to say that the people that I've dealt with in the firm are very decent and ethical. I had an unfortunate experience back in the late 2000s with another marketer who was both incompetent—his ideas never worked—and someone who could have been the inspiration for the Australian comedian Doug Mulray's satirical song "You Are Soul" (say it quickly).

The history of the cartoon book itself is worth recounting. It is supposed to be the first in 3 books, and was supposed to be marketed by the same firm that published eCONcomics.

Unfortunately they dropped the ball on this one, and the book has sat in limbo. This is a chance to get it out into the wild, and I'm happy to take it. You can get a copy from here:

https://www.stevekeenfree.com/new-funny-money-book-free

This will be followed up by marketing of the set of lectures, and the marketing may still have a "spammy" feel to it—it takes time to re-program the automated parts of their campaign. But it is genuine, and if you accept the offer, the end product is this set of "Mastermind" lectures by me. I hope some of you sign up for it.