Just getting to the souk in Marrakech’s medina is a hair-raising experience of navigating motorbikes, cars, donkey-drawn carriages and transport of all shapes and sizes that seem to operate on a set of unspoken rules that do not prioritize pedestrian safety.
The chaos carries through in the hundreds of small, winding streets of the medina, which contains a series of overlapping marketplaces, or souks. You will get lost in the medina. There’s just no way around that. You’ll find yourself walking down a derb, or alleyway, only to need to double back because it’s a road to nowhere. It reminded me of navigating the Information Space.
The souk, like the Information Space, runs on chaos, with a logic that seems absent but that rewards those who thrive on spotting opportunities and tuning out the noise.
At one of the many small stalls selling counterfeit luxury goods, I was told a pair of Loro Piana slippers, complete with box and certificate of authenticity, aren’t like the other low-quality goods you’ll find with well-known logos. “These are real fakes,” I was told with a smile. It can be hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t.
In truth, the real fake slippers were high quality, even if they were drafting off the brand equity. These kinds of products lean on the trappings of authority – the fake certificate of authenticity is almost too on the nose – in order to create alternative and even competitive products. Many will opt for a $150 real fake vs a $1500 original. The souk is full of, well, derivatives.
The souk also runs on hustle – and total chaos. Soon, a monkey was summoned to pose for photos, something I am pretty sure would be illegal in most places. The monkey guys are usually around the snake charmers in the main square. Everyone in the souk has a hustle.
Selling in the souk is a kinetic activity. A few disorienting and exhausting hours in the medina confirmed my simple sales thesis: more outreach means more sales. Souk merchants don’t overthink their strategies: They will come to you with their proposition. The souk incentivizes flooding the zone. Distribution and attention are leverage.
And the souk rewards characters. Hawkers use any language at their disposal. Upon learning someone was from Serbia,one tried a “Dzien dobre.” Polish, but close. Part of the experience is the haggling with these merchants, even if I felt at a distinct disadvantage. In the souk, you have to be a performer.
Riads are interspersed in the medina, with non-descript building facades giving way to peaceful retreats from the chaos of the streets. Thanks for reading. Send me a note with your feedback by hitting reply.
Upcoming events this month from The Rebooting
I’m hosting a TRB Expert Session with Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk on May 19 to discuss what AI is actually revealing about audience behavior, where it creates blind spots, and how media companies can use it to build deeper relationships without losing the editorial instincts that make them worth reading in the first place. Sign up to join this interactive discussion
At the Media Product Forum with WordPress VIP, in New York City on May 20 we'll be covering the decisions and builds that are making a difference this year: AI that's actually shipping, revenue beyond subscriptions, and building direct audience relationships. Speakers include Ariscielle Novicio, CTO of the New York Post; Adam McClean, chief product officer at People Inc.; Kat Downs Mulder, svp and gm of Yahoo News and Home, and Veebha Mehta, CTO of Crain. Apply to attend.
Omeda is releasing its annual State of Audience report. I’m hosting a TRB Expert Session on May 21 with Omeda vp of client experience Tony Napoleone to discuss the findings, including why there’s a gap between the strategic imperative of audience-first strategies and publishers own self-assessment of how successful they’ve implemented those strategies. Sign up to join this interactive discussion.
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