What the Scarecrow should have asked for.

Last weekend, I went apple picking with two of my friends at an orchard whose name I don't remember (more on that in a second) in Danvers, Massachusetts, which is about 45 minutes from Boston.

The orchard had a corn maze that, when viewed from above, looked like a scarecrow. And leading into the maze, there was a scarecrow wearing a Hillary Clinton mask reminiscent of the one worn by the bank robbers in Point Break. Scary indeed.

While this may not be something which makes you sit up and pay attention, it certainly raises a few eyebrows. A corn maze that looks like a scarecrow. A scarecrow that looks like Hillary Clinton. Interesting.

So today, on my way to work (I work near Kendall Square in Cambridge) I walked by an 11"x17" flyer for this very orchard; the one with a corn maze that looks like a scarecrow. Featured prominently on the flyer was a picture of the maze as viewed from above.

The rest of the flyer was filled with a description of the orchard, its hours of operation, and, get this: detailed directions on how to get there.

I want to know what person, working in Cambridge Massachusetts, walks by a flyer such as this on their way to work and is so moved by the image of a corn maze which looks like a scarecrow (and by the way, you only realize its a corn maze when you get right up to the flyer. From any distance greater than two feet it just looks like a crop circle) that they feel compelled to do the following:

• stop
  
• read the flyer
  
• process the image of a corn maze that looks like a scarecrow
  
• realize that this is the solution to their problem of what to do this weekend
  
• make a note of the hours of the orchard
  
• reach into their bag for a pen and paper and write down the directions to the orchard

Bear in mind that the only reason I even stopped to read the flyer in the first place was because I had already been to the orchard and recognized the image of the corn maze which looks like a scarecrow, and even then, I didn't notice the name of the orchard; I still don't remember it. Had I not JUST been to the orchard last weekend, what do you think the odds are that I would have even noticed the flyer, let alone pay attention?

The scarecrow was asking for me to do three or four things in one interaction, and he doesn't even know me. 3/4 of the real estate on this flyer is wasted with perfunctory garbage. When your story (the corn maze that looks like a scarecrow) is remarkable enough to get people to stop and pay attention, your best bet is to leverage that into a relationship; introduce the other information on the flyer gradually, AFTER you have some level of permission to talk to me, or after I express an interest. Throwing it all on a flyer is ignoring the curve completely, and as such, I am going to ignore you.

So what should the scarecrow have asked for? Not brains, but permission.