Why Boston’s Tiny Clifton is worth a place alongside TV advertising’s A-listers…

This Christmas Michael Bublé has become the public face of Asda, and M&S has opted for the home-grown Dawn French. Elsewhere Waitrose has opted for Graham Norton, and Samuel L Jackson has been fronting for Bolton bakery Warburtons for ages.

Why are these businesses pumping megabucks into high-value ad campaigns featuring such A-listers? The answer’s obvious, according to Provincial Membership Officer Mike Clay. “It’s you they want. They want to entice you away from the competition towards their own brands,” he says.

And in that context step forward ‘Tiny’ Clifton, perhaps an unlikely individual to set alongside Bublé, Norton, and French. “Not so much,” says Mike, pictured right. “Tiny has done for Boston’s Lodge of Harmony exactly what those A-listers are doing for those household brand names – he’s set his Lodge apart from the others in Boston by sending me the first profile from that centre for us to include on our web site.”

That’s a vital dimension in the Membership Challenge, according to Mike. “The kind of unsponsored candidate we’re getting these days has done his research, part of which is exploring our web site. He’s far more likely to engage with the Lodge that ‘sells’ itself best. There are lots of ways to do that, but I’d suggest creating a Lodge profile is a good first step. It doesn’t take long, and once it’s been uploaded it’s there for everyone to see, ‘selling’ your Lodge as a proactive one to join.

“In the end, each Lodge has a choice to make. On the one hand it can be vibrant and forward looking and saying ‘Yes, if’ to new opportunities and new members, or on the other saying ‘No, because’, and being closed to embracing the changing world in which we live.

“I’m reminded of the cartoon in which the Chief Executive of a company stands in front of his executives and says: ‘Shall we try something different, or shall we carry on as we’ve always done, and continue our slide into oblivion?’,” he added.

• As a first step to creating your a profile for your Lodge visit the ‘Masonic Centres’ page on our web site and click on any one from the list. You’ll be shown a list of the Lodges and Chapters meeting there. Those whose names are in bold already have a Lodge profile. Read some of those as a source of inspiration for your own. When you’ve written one, email it to Mike at pmolincs@gmail.com and he’ll arrange to have it uploaded.

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