LOW BUDGET PR: The SECRETS OF THE NINJA 忍者

LOW BUDGET PR: The SECRETS OF THE NINJA 忍者
and Your Publicity Strategy
By: A.G. Fielder

Part 1

What is your modus operandi when it comes to publicity? Are you a student of antiquity pledging your allegiance to old tried and true methods - or have you contemplated doing the unspeakable – tossing caution to the wind and winging it? Well, if you do not have a publicity strategy you should come up with one soon.
Perhaps – being the savvy entrepreneur that you are – you should consider incorporating the secrets of the ninja. With growing interest in ancient Asian war strategy (i.e. ancient Indian strategist Kautilya, Sun Tzu’s Ping Fa or the Art of War, and the work of, Wu Ch’i, Tu Mu and Cao Cao) applied to business, you would think that more entrepreneurs would apply those same principles to the whimsical world of publicity.
Truth is, a few people in your shoes have considered integrating the dark arts of the ninja into their current publicity campaign. The best part of doing so (aside from it being absolutely free) is that those who have done such have seen a significant boost in their publicity productivity. So…let me ask you something – are you ready for a publicity lesson that will inevitably change your life? Good, because you’re about to get one.
History has attributed the legacy of the Japanese ninja to the teachings of ancient Chinese strategists like Sun Tzu, notable poet/strategist Tu Mu for his insight on mind control and of course the unknown author of the Thirty-Six Strategems.
While each touched on the advantages of psychological warfare, Tu Mu hid his ideas on strategy in his poetry. His work discussed how you could figuratively turn a person out and persuade them to go against the grain bending them to your will. The ninja took the ideas of Tu Mu among other strategists and expanded upon them. The end result was the perfection of their strategy on the insights into the human mind and how to manipulate, distort or influence it. Take the history of the ninja for example.
7th century Japan, Prince Shotoku Taishi (also known as Prince Umayato) was contestant to the throne, with a bloodline linked directly to the empress, this was his destiny. However his success was solely dependent on him receiving information of which he had no knowledge of how to acquire. The greatest challenge stemmed from the dissension within the royal court over how Japan should be governed. With time running out, and hardly any allies, Shotoku’s succession to the throne was at stake. His nemesis, the traitor, Moriya managed to single-handedly manipulate the royal court, swaying them in opposition of Shotoku. Knowledge of Moriya’s exploits was essential. After spinning his wheels and getting absolutely nowhere, Shotoku sought the guidance of a mountain warrior monk named Otomo-No-Saijin. With a plethora of tricks up his sleeve, Otomo used the Chinese warfare techniques of stealth, subterfuge intelligence gathering, and mind manipulation to form a strategy with Shotoku while simultaneously spying on Moriya.
A mind master, Otomo took the unprepared Moriya on a psychological journey that led to his death while Shotoku walked down the yellow brick road of success, becoming the Crown Prince of Japan forever making his indelible mark on Japanese history. For this, Otomo was honored by Shotoku and given a new name as a gift. From that point on he was called shinobi (志能備) which means, “one who sneaks in”- a pioneer of the ninja sennin.
By the 14th century the word shinobi referred to warriors who used unorthodox tactics - completely opposite the ruling samurai who followed a code of honor. The shinobi (ninja) were rogue mountain warriors of feudal Japan – the ever ready hired hands of the ruling daimyo who would carry out tasks such as intelligence gathering, mind trickery, espionage, and assassination; of which the samurai would not do.
The legacy of Otomo-no-Saijin made possible the way of the ninja, for it was he who was the first of his kind in Japan to employ the mind bending techniques of the Chinese masters. Like their Chinese predecessors (i.e. the Shaolin monks), employed psychological warfare on their enemies at all times, hitting them where they were the most vulnerable and the least able to defend themselves – through those human insecurities that we all have (fear, lust, anger, greed, sympathy and superstition). It took the ninja 100 years to develop and refine the ways of eradicating an enemy through the exploitation of psychological weakness. At the end of it all they realized for every one way to physically attack a target, there were ten ways to attack his mind, which is why psychological warfare was preferred over assassination.
So what does this history lesson have to do with your publicity campaign? Hold on…let me break it down for you. A ninja entrepreneur (or entrepreneurial ninja) would employ psychological tactics that targeted their niche consumer base (this includes but is not limited to marketing, promotions, and publicity – the components of public relations). The entrepreneur would focus on providing the consumer a solution that they seek and need – hence your product (because your product not only fulfills a need to your consumer but it also solves a nagging problem.)