The Tanning of America by Steve Stoute

Author:Steve Stoute
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

The Sound and Rhythm of Sports

During my initiation into the field of marketing it had been my observation that a lot of the men and women working in creative positions in advertising were frustrated screenwriters. Their interest had nothing to do with solving companies’ problems but more with crafting flashy commercials to put on their reels so they could break into the movie business or win awards. Yet I also knew there were younger and/or less conventional creative people who actually wanted to be in marketing and had proximity to pop culture but weren’t being tapped. Since I had always seen my role at Translation as keeping us focused on being a solution agency in service of clients, regardless of whether we were doing product development, brand design, strategic insight, or traditional media, those were the creative people I wanted to bring on my team. Whatever the solutions, I was determined to find the way to fix my clients’ business concerns. And doing that is the only way, in my view, to say you’ve been successful.

Again, the baby boomer era and the Mad Men advertising attitudes still running the show didn’t hold up the right mirror to the multicultural, multigenerational, polyethnic consumers that we can now call the millennials. By 2001 the millennials had become the most informed, most discerning consumers ever to appear on the planet. At this stage, factors going into purchasing consideration had also changed. No longer could a brand get away with doing the autocratic monologue to cram down their message. No longer could the language be verbalized as talking to the mass audience; the focus was now on individuals. No longer could slogans or jingles be force-fed because even though they might be catchy, they didn’t necessarily entice you to buy the product.

We had arrived at that point in time when it was imperative for brands to issue an invitation. Consumers wanted to be allowed in, to have a point of view in the matter. Elements that needed to be emphasized were social, experiential, and then, finally, retail. In the old days, all advertising had to do was push retail. But now other considerations—the social-status entry point and the experiential/emotional entry point—had to be woven into the invitation. A very gentle relationship, I might add. What’s more, with this choosier consumer, design aesthetics were influencing purchase consideration more than ever.

In a challenging retail environment, the payoff for a radical disruption strategy is never guaranteed. With a new product, brand, or organization being launched into a crowded marketplace, it may be easier to expect you’ll attain the desired goal of gaining a certain amount of attention. But when it’s a strategy for reviving a brand that has lost relevance and is on its last gasp, a radical disruption strategy is like applying the defibrillator paddles to a patient on life support. When your brand is not performing, risk and disruption are among your few assets. When you are performing, you are naturally risk-averse. Yeah, true disruption is a complete risk, loud, bold, multitiered, without guarantees, and extremely expensive.

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