Marketing Guidelines for Circling Europe

Circling helps us reveal deeper motivations for our actions, giving us the freedom to choose to embrace or change what we discover. Often this shows us the timeless wisdom that "projection makes perception"—that wherever we point one finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at ourselves.

A classic example is when we want to "fix the discomfort" of someone seemingly in pain, only to realize that we're actually trying to fix our own discomfort at seeing them in something we don't like!

This kind of projection is so commonplace it is often taken for granted...but it doesn't have to be. Here's a playful and serious look at how we at Circling Europe attempt see and then "own" the unconscious projections in our marketing plans. We hope it is useful for you too!  

Instructions: Ask yourself these questions during any marketing. We see that absolutely everything(including this piece of writing) sets context. Like many of our guidelines, these are questions are better used for personal inquiry than for evaluating someone else. :)

Seeing the Mirror:

• Are you asking them to meet your need and convincing them it’s theirs?
• Are you trying to sell them the thing you want and feel you are lacking?
• Are you simply telling the truth or are you trying to “spin” something to sound more attractive or meaningful than it might really be for someone?
• Are you trying to fix the world? (Check for existential pain if so)

Implicit Transmission:

• Are you implicitly telling someone they aren’t enough, or need your offering to be complete and whole?
• Are you creating a false sense of scarcity? (Eg: "One seat left!" "Grab yours today")
• Are you creating a false sense of abundance?
• What is the transmission—the message between the lines—about life and being human? About your values, and what a good life means?
• Are you taking responsibility for someone else’s pain/problems, thereby colluding with the powerless feeling or otherwise engaging in the drama triangle? (Eg: making them a victim, making someone/something else perpetrator)
• Are you putting down a particular Way of Being without honoring its gifts?
• Are you in opposition to others, or even to time and circumstance? ("First ever” "limited time only,” "First of its kind")