Bilbo Baggins' secret to throwing events with baked-in curiosity

At least once a week I've been making the short drive up Olive Hill Rd. to my parents new mountaintop retreat for dinner (and more recently, carrot cake and banana bread).

One thing I like to do when I go over there is thumb through my dad's copies of Lord of The Rings. LOTR is by far one of my favorite stories.

Every time I pick them up I learn so much.

About Middle Earth and its lore.
About Tolkien and his genius.
And about how to write (and dare I say market) better.

Take Bilbo Baggins for example.

The first chapter of LOTR begins with the preparations for his eleventy-first birthday party. And it's going to be a big one.

In fact, it's such a momentous occasion, hobbits and dwarves come from far and wide.

So the question arises:

How does Bilbo do it?

How does he get hobbits (many of whom think Bilbo is quite strange) to travel over hill and under tree to Bag End?

Put simply:

Baked-in curiosity.

Here are a few of Bilbo’s wiles:

1)Prestige — Bilbo has his own prestige from past adventures, but he also 'steals' Gandalf's prestige when a rumor circulates that Gandalf will be attending the party
2)Novelty - but Gandalf isn't merely attending. Gandalf is also bringing fireworks. The likes of which haven't been seen in The Shire for many a moon
3)Reputation — Bilbo has a reputation for strangeness and marching to the beat of his own tambourine. If Bilbo’s likely to do something curious (such as disappear after his speech by slipping a magic ring on his finger say), you won’t want to be one of the hobbits to miss it

More:

These three curiosity-provoking conditions can be consciously embedded into your marketing messages.

I do it all the time.

So begin thinking of ways you can add prestige, novelty, and your reputation, and you’ll add many more shiny gold doubloons to your chest of booty.

If ye need my help, sail on over to the reply button and let me know

Tyler McCune

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