What Is a Sea of Sameness?
I’m not sure where I first heard the phrase “sea of sameness,” but it is now one of my favorite sayings. I love the alliteration, of course. Yet the underlying meaning is so powerful. 
With the advent of digital marketing, everything has become over saturated. Clutter has reached an all-time high. There are too many commercials on non-streaming TV. There are now four full-service gas stations within a block of each other. Our email is chock-full with offers. The marketing sea level is rising rapidly.
So what do most marketers do? They copy their competition. That’s because it is familiar, and it is safe. The frequency of looking at competitor work makes it even more attractive. So copying is at an all-time high.
You can copy an idea. What you cannot copy is brand consistency, strategy, multiplatform integration and content extensions.
How do you get out of the sea of sameness? You go deeper with your thinking/strategy and push outside your shell.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
