Entrance to the Mobile (AL) Carnival Museum
You say you’re heading down South to celebrate Mardi Gras? Well, if you want to go where it all began (at least on this side of the Atlantic), you’d best program your GPS for Mobile, Alabama.
Mobile, Alabama?
You don’t have to take my word for it –but if you don’t believe the good Doctor is telling you the truth, do a little research on your own. Plug “Mardi Gras” into Google and you’ll find pages and pages of sites pertaining to New Orleans.
Google “Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama,” however (I’ve done it for you right here) and you’ll get the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.
Which is, basically, that Mobile was the first capital of “French Louisiana” -that’s before the Louisiana Purchase, natch -and they’d been celebrating Mardi Gras for 15 years before New Orleans was founded.
Why is it then that the majority of us link Mardi Gras and New Orleans?
Easy. It’s obvious that New Orleans has had much better press agents.
I’m also certain that N’awlins’ reputation for debauchery certainly carries some weight as well. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)
Got me thinking -how much of what we know to be true is really just good marketing … or, in the case of New Orleans… Great Mojo Marketing?
In business, shouldn’t we be using the New Orleans model versus that of Mobile?
I’m not suggesting hype over truth. Just a reminder that if we don’t toot our own horn (and do so loudly), no one else will.
So get tooting your business horn and while you’re at it, enjoy the Mardi Gras, regardless of whether you’re in Mobile, New Orleans, San Jose, Arlington, Chicago or huddled around the campfire in the swamps of Michigan.
I know I will.
