Marketing Pop Culture

BTW, this blog is closed

Seriously, it's been great.  But you may have noticed that there's been no activity here for over a year.  Maintaining two blogs was too much for me and, in those immortal words of Clint Eastwood, "A man's got to know his limitations."

More to the point, with my blog Boldaslove.us, I'm getting back to something I've always cared about.  Namely, black rock, Afro-punk and black alternative music, and how all of this is moving away from the fringes of American (and international!) culture and towards the mainstream.

Over at Boldaslove.us, get started by checking out some music.  If you like that, then download the FREE compilation "Boldaslove.us presents Fire In The Dark" from Amazon.  After that, you might like to check out some key posts:

• The post that started it all
• Connecting black rock to larger trends the culture
• What is black rock?
• Do we have to call it "black" rock?
• Other spots on the Web where black rock is growing

Thanks again for supporting this blog.  Come visit me at Boldaslove.us and find out what's next on the cultural horizon.

The real difference between liberals and conservatives

 

Why does it seem like liberals and conservatives never seem to agree?  Is it simplistic to say that they just see the world differently?  Maybe not.  Check out this fascinating talk given at the 2008 TED conference by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who studies the cultural context for morality and emotion.  In this talk, he discusses the five moral values that are valued most by people who fall into either the conservative or liberal camp.  Perhaps it will help you have more empathy for our countrymen and women in those other-colored states.

Rob's Rules of Social Media Etiquette

I belong to several social networks.  Overall, I enjoy the experience and they're all useful for different reasons.  Clearly, we've all been given unprecedented access to one another.  But because the barriers to contact are so much lower, manners and discretion become paramount.  I mean, just because you can connect, should you?  More to the point, how should you?

What I really can't stand is when complete strangers want to connect with me, but just let the system send out the standard note.  From LinkedIn, I get stuff like this:

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

Okay.  Who are you?

More importantly, why do I want to connect with you?  What's the value to me of being added to your network?  I'm not asking this out of arrogance.  Rather, my goal is to keep my network valuable and useful to me and to those in it.  Part of that is predicated on trust and, in the case of LinkedIn, a familiarity with a person's expertise.  When it comes time to connect people, I want to be able to say without hesitation that here are two smart and good people who can really benefit from knowing each other.

Fair questions, I think.

Now, here's a good example of a note that I got from somebody who wanted to connect on LinkedIn. 

Rob,
Greetings. Trust all is well your way.
How would you like to join my professional network?
Kindly consider my invitation.
peace

-Brian

I got to know him through having him speak at one of my conferences.  We've talked a couple of time after that.  However, he's smart enough not to assume, even though he's got a big title and runs a big piece of business for his agency.

All I'm asking for here is some context.  'Cause I can tell you this: If I don't know you and you haven't included a note with your request, I'm going to decline. And there's the issue of network meaningfulness that Max Kalehoff addressed in a post on Twitter.

So here are some things to keep in mind when you reach out to me (or anyone you don't really know):

1. Provide some context.  Introduce yourself, what you do and why you're reaching out.  Something prompted you to press that "connect," "add to network," or "add as a friend" button.  Tell me what that it was.
2. Don't be lazy.  And that's exactly what you're saying when you use system boilerplate copy or, worse, send no note at all.  Laziness says you're not really interested in me and that you may have more interest in who I know.
3. Understand that you're a stranger to me: Mutual friends, school affiliations and memberships in LinkedIn groups don't matter to me.  Unless we've met offline, done business or someone I already know has recommended you YOU'RE STILL A STRANGER, and you'll need to give me some more information.  See #1.
4. It's about relationships.  Quality, not quantity, rules.  I don't want my networks--particularly LinkedIn--to turn into the digital version of collecting a lot of useless business cards.  I want to connect with other people who are interested in developing mutually beneficial relationships.  If you haven't done so yet, this would be a great time to read Keith Ferrazzi's "Never Eat Alone".  Then get at me. 

Bottom line: If you're beginning a new relationship digitally, think what first impression you want to leave.

Keep your (brand) promise, Barack

From Barack Obama's remarks last night:

Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.  Thousands of miles have been traveled.  Millions of voices have been heard.  And because of what you said – because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another – a journey that will bring a new and better day to America.  Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Barack's change brand continues to capture imaginations.  He is now one step closer to becoming the first African American to hold the presidency of the United States.  Truly we're at the "end of one historic journey with the beginning of another".  The current debate now is who he picks for a running mate.  More to the point: Should he pick Hillary?  I believe he need look no further than his own brand for the answer.  He's about change.  She's not.  Peep this:

“It’s backward looking to pick a Clinton at this point — and he’s all about forward looking, to being about change,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic organization. “He’s all about a fundamentally new kind of politics. Picking a Clinton is by definition backward looking, and I just don’t think he wants that.”

More than angering Clinton and all of her supporters, Obama should focus on keeping the promise he made to the people who've supported him thusfar.  He and his team have to be good brand stewards.  Noah Brier is illustrating the truism that brands are a set of perceptions in the minds of consumers.  To align himself with her is--and, yes, this is an opinion I share--to irreparably break and damage his brand promise.

Besides, he's got a lot of options that will help him keep and strengthen his brand.

MTV asks: Is theater finally catching up to the street?

MTV News recently ran a piece that explores how the rock musical is attracting a new, younger generation to the Great White Way, and uses newcomers (and award winners) "Passing Strange", "In The Heights" and longer running shows such as "Rent" and "Spring Awakening" as examples.  "In the Heights" is one of the first to use hip hop effectively in a theatrical setting.

Rock seems to have had an easier transition to the Broadway stage than hip-hop, but that's changing with "In the Heights," which led the 2008 Tony Award nominations with 13 nods. "It surprises me that no one has put hip-hop and Latin music into a Broadway musical before me," "Heights" composer/narrator Lin-Manuel Miranda said. "We really tried to use the music of Washington Heights — salsa, reggaeton, hip-hop — and we use it to tell a story."

And Stew of "Passing Strange" makes this cogent observation:

"I think the theater needs rappers and rock bands and techno and everything," Stew said. "The theater needs every actual music that's actually happening in the world, you know? Because the audience for the new musical, they're out there. They listen to music all the time. We live in a music-obsessed society, you know? Stuff like us or 'Spring Awakening,' it shouldn't be an aberration. It shouldn't be strange. It should be normal."

The MTV News article is here.

Related links:

• Passing Strange index on Boldaslove.us

Barack Obama on race

What was on display today was the power of Obama.  Let me explain.  He frequently talks about unity and some dismiss it as naive dreaming.  However, what was clear today was that there is a strength in talking openly and honestly about the issues that lie ahead of us.  Race is such an issue, and he's right that every time there's an opportunity to have an open dialogue about it, the country tends to sidestep it.  Usually, whites end up feeling defensive and black folks come across as too angry.  And it's true, we do end up retreating to our respective corners.

But, by not pandering, by providing powerful contexts for behaviors and feelings on both sides of the divide, Obama has not only clarified his position on this issue, but he has provided ways for ordinary Americans to begin honest discussions in their own neighborhoods on this subject.

Bravo, Barack!  Now let's see if the country is brave enough to follow where you lead.

Click here for the transcript.

Bill Bragin, "Downtown Impresario"

Today the New York Times profiled a friend of mine, Bill Bragin.  When you talk about people shaping culture in New York City, certainly you have to talk about Bill.  As a programmer and presenter, he's put his wide-ranging and superb musical tastes to work in service of Festival Productions, Central Park Summerstage, Joe's Pub, and now Lincoln Center.  There, he'll run both the Midsummer Night's Swing and Lincoln Center Out Of Doors series.

“The way I define myself and my work is as an arts presenter, not a nightclub booker,” Mr. Bragin said in an interview. “This was exactly the right move. It’s multidisciplinary, it’s multiethnic. I have always been a generalist working in those boundaries between popular art and high art.”

It should be noted that he was instrumental in shepherding "Passing Strange" through it's early development at Joe's Pub.

To be in Bill's orbit is have driven home to you that there's so much great--yes, really great--music being created and performed.  Further, in an age when everyone can be a curator, Bill is a "trusted source".

Read the full New York Times article here.

A Failure of "Microtrends"?

Here's a chink the armor of Burson-Marstellar CEO Mark Penn's "Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes."  Penn contends--and I believe him--that you only need 1% of an audience to get behind a product for it to be a winner.  I think that this is a particularly good way to approach things if you've identified a niche.  It certainly makes sense when it comes to books, movies, music, etc.

But a presidential race is, by definition, an exercise in mass marketing: He or she who ends up with the most votes wins.  It's not about aggregating a bunch of niches into one big mass.  And it's certainly not the thing to do once you realize (if you ever do) that you're in the midst of a cultural shift.  David Kiley of Business Week sums up Penn's strategic failure (thusfar) as strategist of the Clinton campaign:

It appears that while Penn was pushing this year’s election as a collection of mind-numbing microtrends—commuter couples, extreme commuters, pro-Semites, sun haters, Old New Dads, Christian Zionists—he missed the idea that national elections tend to turn on macro effects. One thing that will never go out of style—voters want to be inspired. To do that, you have to be tapped into the common denominator of a majority of voters. That’s where Penn’s strategy went off the rails. He never saw it, while his nose was buried in his microtrend focus [g]roups and surveys.

Read the full Business Week post here.

Why "Passing Strange" Matters

Tomorrow marks the Broadway debut of the musical "Passing Strange".  It was just this past May when the musical, the brainchild of singer/songwriter Stew, enjoyed both critical adulation and an extended run at The Public Theater.

Broadway is, of course, a whole 'nother level, but it's one that this work richly deserves.  The musical tells the story of a young African-American who escapes the protected environment of his 1970s, middle class, church-going world to find himself through the blues and rock 'n' roll in Europe.  In short, it's a Black rock coming of age story.

I'm encouraging everyone to see it.  Here's what's significant about "Passing Strange":

1. The music is off the hook.
2. It stands as a great example of the ways in which Black rock is moving away from the fringes and towards the mainstream: Again, it's a Black rock musical on the Great White Way!
3. It comes at a time when African American audiences are hungry for more challenging art, art that doesn't pander or engage in tired cliches.  "Passing Strange" is refreshing precisely because of its honesty and because it highlights the diversity of the African American experience.
4. It underscores Black rock as a growing niche within the African American community. Marketers would do well to understand the sensibilities of this segment, and how those sensibilities shape not only a world view, but how communications efforts are received.  Basically, you're faced with a growing multicultural cohort that's creating community based on needs, lifestyles and interests.

In terms of the marketing, the producers seem to have done their homework.  The critical acclaim (here and here) provided a great base.  However, the producers rightly understood that they needed to make the musical come alive online.  I think they've succeeded.  If you check out the site, you'll see that they provide a ton of visuals, audio and video clips, and a high level of interactivity that all serves to bring the exuberance of the musical to your desktop.  I've also noticed that there seems to be a significant spend for outdoor advertising, as well as the incorporation of mobile elements.

Finally, over at Boldaslove.us, I posted an interview with Stew that I conducted a few days ago.  In it, we get into some of this issues raised by the musical, particularly the idea that you can, in fact, tell a universal story that's rooted in the Black aesthetic, but not wallow in stereotypes. 

If you're inspired and/or intrigued, follow the links in the post to find out how to get discount tickets.  When you come back amazed, just be sure to tell at least five friends about it.

The official Passing Strange site, with links to its Facebook and MySpace pages.

The electorate provides a clue to the cultural shift

In an editorial in today's NY Times, David Brooks focuses on what he believes John McCain will need to do in order to take a real leadership position.  One of the groups he suggests that McCain has to be better in touch with is the middle class.  He writes:

Picture a suburban townhouse community filled with families making $40,000 to $60,000 a year. Maybe there’s a single mother in one unit who hates her job but needs the benefits. Maybe there are immigrant parents with associate degrees watching their son drop out of school in another. The definition of being middle class has changed, as many have noticed. It used to be a destination. Now it’s an uncertain place. It’s a struggle just to stay there. Any candidate who can’t talk specifically to these concerns is doomed.

I hope  marketers are paying attention to this.  After all, these same anxieties will have a real impact on how your communications are received and understood.  They'll even determine whether or not the message is retained.  Such anxieties will inevitably impact purchase and spending decisions on a range of products.

But here's the important thing: I think this is a bit broader (deeper) than to be just about consumer confidence.  The Consumer Confidence Index

is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending.

What I think Brooks is alluding to is concern (fear?) on the part of many about whether they can maintain their status in a certain part of this country's socio-economic spectrum.  Given globalization, outsourced jobs and the subprime crisis, we may only see this fear deepening.  So what's a marketer to do?  Will we be ready to deal with the possible consumer resentment at the images of a comfortable life that some feel might be slipping away from an important segment of this country?  Maybe consumers won't be resentful, but rather indifferent, i.e., that's not my life, so I'm ignoring your message.

On the other hand, haven't we marketed through high anxiety?  I mean, during the Cold War, there was the constant concern (again, fear?) of being bombed out of existence by the Soviets.  Relatively speaking, marketing moved along fine then.

But it that was somehow qualitatively different.  One bomb and it was pretty much over in an instant for everyone.  This is something else: The slow slipping away of spending power, home ownership and the ability to provide a certain level of dignity for your family.  Seems like that's something that gnaws much deeper at the heart of the consumer landscape, and something that marketers will have to address with more nuanced understanding.

Read the full Brooks editorial here.