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Something To Ponder…
I thought I’d raise this topic of conversation just before I left, so I could come back and see how it developed in my absence without my intervention at all… For a while now, I’ve been wondering whether or not I should drop the job title “occult investigator” from my website. Understand, that when I say that it wouldn’t entail a change in my approach, my methodology, my attitude or the subject matter I cover. It would be strictly a name change. Or if you want to be more precise, a branding change. I’m not hell-bent on getting rich or famous off of any of this, but I would like to be able to open up the conversations that we have here to a wider audience. And I know that the vast majority of people out there in internet land get scared and confused when they see the word occult. Part of me likes that. Part of me recognizes it can be a stumbling block to communication. I mean hell, some people who are actually into the occult don’t even like what I’m doing or how I’m doing it. That type of shit doesn’t bother me or get me down at all. But I’m thinking that maybe if I’m going to have people make snap judgements about my work that there’s a way for them to make a snap judgement which isn’t going to scare them off without getting involved.
The whole issue’s a little difficult for me to see all the sides of, since I’m in the center of it. I think there are good and bad things to continuing in either direction (but no matter what, I’m continuing!), so I’ll have to leave it up to you all to explain what they are and make the case for me. If you find yourself arguing one side, also take a few moments to play devil’s advocate. I want to have as complete a picture of this issue as possible for when I return.
Also, if I am going to re-brand my site, how would you do it? (This is directed at all you marketing and design geeks out there). I like the idea of having a sort of shorthand way to understand what I’m all about if you’ve never come across me before. So I’ll entertain alternate job titles, slogans, general marketing angles, etc. In my own words, this is what I see as the big strength of what I do: I give people permission to be interested in weird stuff. I prove that you don’t need to be some kind of freak or weirdo to want to know about secrets and mysteries (but being a freak is fine too). And I also show that critical thinking does have a place in religion, mythology, the occult etc. And I do it all in a way that’s accessible and clear for the ordinary person. Or that’s what I’m trying to do anyway. A guy I talked to about marketing one time said something great about how “a brand is a promise” and for a brand to be successful, all you have to do is be able to consistently fulfill that promise. The whole image of “occult investigator” is snappy and exciting, and it may even be clear to some people. But there must be a way to say the same thing without having to “preach to the choir” all the time, you know? Let’s get some fresh blood in here, some new perspectives. Let’s see where we can go. What do you guys think?
PS. Before you blurt out a “screw what people think”, understand that I appreciate your sentiments and agree - on one level. On another, I’d love to be able to make a living from my writing, and bring these ideas and types of conversations that we have here to people from all different walks of life. And to be honest, I wouldn’t mind having a website that I wouldn’t feel weird about putting on a resume. Not everybody is willing to hire a part-time freelance occult investigator, nor is it the kind of thing that can be easily explained to one’s girlfriend’s parents. Anyway, alright. Put your thinking caps on, drop me some thoughts. And we’ll meet back here in a week once we’ve had some time to regroup. Stay evil, everybody.
- Prev: On Vacation
- Next: Jared Drew Moody Art
August 5th, 2005 at 10:04 pm
Personally I believe that you should keep your origanl “title”, It was your first and you did create it yourself. however if you are wanting to get into the “mainstream” culture you sometimes have to suck it up and change stuff to please the general public. In art class the teacher told us to draw a symbol that was important to us. I drew the anarchy symbol because it sort of fit me and my friends at the time. The teacher told me to change it because she said it was satanic and shit. pissed me off so i drew a gun!-^_^-
August 6th, 2005 at 12:57 am
Tim,
I really enjoy your site and your perspectives. I read your entries while I’m at work sometimes and always scroll down just a little so the title isn’t visible to coworkers passing by. This is really not a problem at all and I’m certainly not suggesting you change your title (I personally like it and think it fits well). However, you and I both know that a lot of people don’t know the original meaning of the word “occult” and have negative preconceived ideas of it.
With that said, I guess one solution would be to think of a title that would attract and catch peoples’ attention who really are interested in ‘investigations’ such as these, but wouldn’t repel others.
August 6th, 2005 at 2:09 am
I understand your reasons for wanting a name change, but I know that the reason I found your site was googling “occult investigator” (you’re the #1 hit).
August 6th, 2005 at 2:27 am
Firstly, your title is great, and when told about it, research needed to be done into this boucher occult investigator guy. Anybody introduced to your site through me thinks pretty much one of two things: 1) “occult investigator? is he for real? Is he brothers with the Time Cube guy? Is he for serious?” 2) “This is going to be a great joke site, just like that one about how bad ass ninjas are, lets check it.”
Surely there’re other responses, and those shown your site by me may not be your normal viewer. If you made a bother enough of it to write a number of paragraphs on your ideas of this, you surely care enough of it to do so (change the name, that is). You could start going by OI for short, just so those who will lament the loss will still have some fetters to your previous identity, to them anyhow.
August 6th, 2005 at 4:28 am
The url addy is already “Tim Boucher” so you could just title your blog something else.
I think the connotations of “occult investigator” have become pretty narrow, especially since the breadth of the subject matter you cover is so great (it seemed appropos in your early days, though.) IMO, pretty much everything you write about could pass as “occult” (in context of the original definition as I know it), but that definition just doesn’t exist for most people; I can definitely understand if you’re concerned about people pigeon-holing you or misjudging your style from the occult investigator title.
My suggestion would be to keep the OI as a personal title, but leave it out of the blog header (which I guess you would rename.)
…I dunno–the more I think about it, the less the change seems necessary. I guess if I were to cast a vote, I’d say leave it, at this point.
August 6th, 2005 at 5:27 am
I wouldn’t change a thing. You have earned a solid rep among free thinkers under the title “Occult Investigator”, “occult” is a word that emcompasses vast regions of intellectual ground, and Occult Investigator has a groovy underground-comic-book ring. Own it.
August 6th, 2005 at 8:00 am
How about - “Snark-Hunter“?
It seems to me that it encapsulates what you are doing pretty much - chasing the indefinable, making the pursuit the thing, and the blend of literariness, self-mockery and profundity might do well.
Angel
August 6th, 2005 at 1:56 pm
i don`t believe you`ve explored this niche far enough to be concerned with a re-brand. the occult investigator is begining to become a brand so why not give it time to establish more fully? i came in at david bowie is an alien, i don`t know how far back you go from that point but you are, without a doubt, branded as “the” occult investigator and so markets will form around the brand. do some testing. t-shirts, cups, a compilation publication on disk for a nominal fee. these things may seem like mundane or even denigrating to your art, but that is commerce. i look at what people in my proffesion are doing on-line and i realise that i have to follow suit and not re-create the wheel. a book called occult investigator is as valid a title as any at barnes and noble and an honest one at that. it evokes all manner of presuppositions in a potential buyer`s mind.
the alternative is to dip below the waves into the sea of all the other people trying to position themselves in the market. your biggest strength is your honesty, backed up by scolarship and unswerving desire to ask THE question a million different ways. authenticity is a rare commodity in business. there are enough gimmicks glued onto foreheads to make the same gags funnier. you have the francise on occult investigation. go get paid.
August 6th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
Well you are going to take a certain amount of static anyway unless you change your content. Changing your name will just delay the inevitable.
Saying shit like “stay evil” will probably put up some walls somewhere hehe.
-tc
“thats why I like gospel music and speaking in tongues, cause it doesn’t remind me of anything”
-Audioslave
August 6th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Of course this is what you’d expect me to say, but I think you should just call it “Tim Boucher.” If “a brand is a promise,” then you can’t break a promise to be yourself! Sometimes I think of something clever I could have named my site (teotwawki.com is still available), and then I notice that the title would have made me feel like I shouldn’t go too far outside the range it suggested. There’s no set of words that covers all the stuff you’re interested in (and might be interested in later) except your name. Sure, it’s not going to suck in people who have never heard of you, but that just means you’ll build a more dedicated audience more slowly. Get fresh blood with the content, not the signifier. In the long term, if anything, it will make you more successful, because it’s an investment in recognition of your name, and famous people are ultimately known by their names.
August 6th, 2005 at 6:02 pm
I agree with Ran. I think “Tim Boucher” is a great title, but at the same time I’ll agree with the others that unless people already know you, that might not be the best search keyword…
What about: “Are we reasonable yet?” Or “Be reasonable.” I think those little phrases need work, because they’re a bit… I-know-everything/teenagerish… but I think “reason” is a common thread here. Striving for reasonability amidst the flutter of chaotic thoughts.
And there’s always “Prajna“. But maybe the whole Buddhist reference would be lost on people.
Good luck!
August 6th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
Well sure, famous people are known by their names, but they’re more widely known for what they do. And I think this is what Tim is stressing here. He’s finding the name is limiting in that area, as some people just don’t take the term seriously.
Most of y’all are posting from the view of “Your work speaks for itself; it doesn’t really matter what name you use, so you might as well keep the one you have.” And also from loyalty. But go back to when you first ran across the site. What did you think of the title then? What connotations did it strike, what were the topics you expected to be discussed here? And I mean, just that first impression. What you thought before you started digging around and reading various articles. Was it anything even close to what is actually going on here?
Tim is a lot of things here. He’s a parapsychologist. He’s a religious scholar. He’s a philosopher. A very good debater, and plays Devil’s Advocate well to interesting ends. He’s an instigator, shoving different views in our faces so that we stop to actually think about them. And I’d say he’s a bit of a trickster, as well. That’s all a lot of things for one site.
So stop and consider this. It isn’t about who he is, it’s about what he is. I don’t know if Tim would actually pick any title we came up with, but if he’s seriously considering it we may as well try to help out since he asked, shouldn’t we?
August 6th, 2005 at 8:21 pm
i think the word ‘occult’ makes most people think of ghosts and ufos. since your horizons have become much broader than that, that word may be too narrow and restrictive to express what you’re all about. on the other hand, ‘occult’ in the broader sense of hidden, obscure, hermetic or forbidden still seems to apply quite nicely. so i don’t have a problem with it, though i can see how it might confuse others. i’m afraid i don’t have any helpful suggestions, except i hope you keep the disembodied hand with the keys, that’s pretty cool.
August 6th, 2005 at 9:35 pm
I’m uncertain about the pronunciation of “Boucher”. I also have a French surname and English speakers can’t pronounce it right so I’ve got used to having it pronounced wrong. Do you pronounce it like “butcher” or to rhyme with “touché”?
My vote is to stick with the “occult investigator” title. I agree with albion that people start out thinking of the usual paranormal phenomena but then you move also into more religious or philosophical ideas. I think it’s a good thing that you draw people in through what is intriguing, popular, accessible. Weird enough to fascinate, not so way out as to put people off. Fine line there.
What attracts me about your site is its light-hearted delivery on subjects that are often treated in a heavy way. I hope you can keep up that formula. Getting serious about making some money from this shouldn’t mean giving up what is so fresh and original in your style. However, if it becomes more “you” to change that style then a title change might also be in order. No one else but you can really know that.
I’ll keep an eye on where you’re going, whichever way it turns out.
August 6th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
I think you should leave it as it is. “Paranormal” is maybe more approachable than “occult”, but we like you just the way you are. ‘Occult’ to me includes the religious topics more than ‘paranormal’. Just leave it.
Or change it, I’ll read it anyway.
August 7th, 2005 at 12:49 am
Actually I was just talking to garrett about this very thing. Please bare with me I’m not very articulate when it comes to writing. It scares me to write because I’m so dyslexic and I fear that I’ll sound simple.
In my simple style, here goes. I don’t think that you want to give up the “Occult Investigator” it’s become your call tag.
I believe your much more then the name, but it’s very catchy. To me what you are is the beat of the generation. As the “Beat poets” were to there generation that is what you bloggers are to your generation you have your finger on the pulse of this period of time.
Who is your audience? Who do you want your audience to be? Those I think are the question you want to ask yourself, Tim.
I can’t wait for your first book “Tales of an Occult Investigator” by Tim Boucher.
I love your site. I read it every morning. I think Garrett found it like most looking for a ghostbuster. I’m glad he shared it with me.
Garrett’s mom or Half baked Hannah
August 7th, 2005 at 5:06 am
Tim, I vote for keeping the Occult Investigator name. I think anyone you’d ever have any interest in working with would be cool enough to appreciate the site as you’ve created it. (and also, I just like it.)
August 7th, 2005 at 11:52 am
Why not change it to “T. T. Bowker-Conservative Christian Sports Fan” (Boucher sounds too frenchy). Also use some MS Office clip art of a church and a football helmet for your logo. That way people who are scared of the occult wouldn’t be freaked out until about 2 seconds after they started reading your content.
August 7th, 2005 at 5:38 pm
hehe…
I’m with aDude on this one. And it’s Boucher, pronounced like “touché”
August 8th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
I agree that the content has breached the limits that the common man will allow for ‘occult’ to cover, but the common man probably wouldn’t be attracted to any replacement titles that adequitely communicated what you’re about.
You’re only option would be to use titles that were so vague that they didn’t really convey your essence.
You could call yourself “Tim Boucher: Illuminator” or “Tim Boucher: Mystery Detective” or “Tim Boucher: Esoteric Investigator” (and these are admittedly worse than what you could end up with) but these kinds of titles don’t really tell a new reader anything; good or bad.
If I were you, I think I would prefer to scare away a few people with a title rather than have a title that meant essentially nothing.
And you have to consider the ‘coolness’ factor. Occult Investigator sounds so fucking cool!
And please keep the severed hand of St. Peter as well. It is the balls.
If you’re really aching to design a new brand, maybe you could try doing something more with the name and the tattoo. Integrate them more.
August 8th, 2005 at 4:10 pm
Don’t change the name– it invites people, it puzzles people… half of your e-mails are people who misunderstand your title, but that’s okay because at least you are pulling them off the streets and getting them into your virtual shop.
I think you should define the title a bit more. Also, in my mind, “occult investigator” implies that you’re like Darren McGavin in the classic “Night Stalker” movies, doing detective work on cases of vampirism and whatnot. I’m not saying you should go out and look for actual cases, but maybe if you did some reporting (whether it’s “gonzo” or not is up to you) it might get more outside people involved.
I know this may seem like a dumb idea, but use it as an example: you could go on a trip with haunted house sitters, people who locate reportedly haunted houses and hotels and stay the night. Record your experience, your impressions of the whole thing. Was it for real? Was it fake? Did you like the experience or not?
You mentioned once that you’ve not done hallucinogenics. Maybe you should try some once, to record your experience and tie it in with your posts about McKenna and others.
In short, maybe you should become the George Plimpton of occultism– putting yourself at the center of the story. It can be risky, it can be fun, but it would also take your blog to (I hate to say it) “the next level”…
August 10th, 2005 at 1:16 pm
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/08/tiny_cuts.html
I totally agree with Seth Godin there about marketing being honest. What I’ve realised is that when individuals are totally honest (which I know a lot about, being a Sagittarius), you may not win all the friends (clients) in the world, but those that do jive with you will be considerably more loyal and involved.
This is what modern “branding” is all about. Refining one’s focus so that it’s trustworthy and consistent for their clients (readership?).
The term “occult” has certain connotations, but it’s also an always-evolving term, it seems. “Esoteric” technically means the very same thing, but the subtle perception of the words are quite different.
Weigh out the differences between the two. Also keep in mind such things as the cleanliness and inviting aspects of your website design, which nicely framed the term “occult” in a more inviting manner. I bugger around with the idea of using either esoteric or occult, or something completely un-relelated to “paranormal” connotations. It all depends on my mood and the audience.
By keeping occult, you do it a service by improving the public image of the word. But that also provides a challenge for you. In the end, I believe that most peopel are smart enough when they’re alone to read further or explore before jumping to conclusions. Those that aren’t… they’re probably not anyone you’d aim to get reading your site anyhow.
I’ll look over my texts and find you a book title or two and e-mail em off. Hope your vacation is going well!
August 14th, 2005 at 4:10 pm
[…]
T. T. Bowker, Conservative Christian
I’m still churning through all the comments people left regarding the possible name/brand change […]