It must make people think and respect their freewill to disagree
“These graphic, billboard-sized ads included depictions of a variety of ‘shocking’ subjects such as a deathbed scene of a man (AIDS activist David Kirby) dying from AIDS, a bloodied, unwashed newborn baby with umbilical cord still attached,
two horses mating, close-up pictures of tattoos reading “HIV Positive” on the bodies of men and women, a collage consisting of genitals of persons of various races, a priest and nun about to engage in a romantic kiss, and pictures of inmates on death row. The company’s logo served as the only text accompanying the images in most of these advertisements.”
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| Rupin Jayal |
Briatore explained how they raised the company’s profile, “We decided to do something very controversial that people would pick up on—50% of people thought it was great and 50% thought it was awful, but in the meantime everyone was talking about Benetton.” (Wikipedia).
There was a time when in India you actually used to have Coke versus Pepsi arguments at parties. Today the two brands are increasingly blurred. Pepsi popularised “hinglish” when most considered it to be infra dig. For a time, Pepsi was the spokesperson for a generation being liberated from the inhibition of socialist idealism. The brand had an opinion and wasn’t wary of expressing it bluntly. “Nothing official about it” expressed an attitude towards authority and not just a clever hijack of an event. “Mera number kab ayega?” vividly expressed the hope and fear of a youthful population with ambition but without pathways—it wasn’t just a clever brand promotion. Pepsi truly was a “youth soulmate” and not just a carbonated soft drink.
Some people think Harley Davidson is the ultimate expression of liberation while others see owners as wannabe posers. Swatch was very vocal in espousing causes, created global communities of like-minded people long before the term “social networking” was coined and revelled in being the Swiss “un-watch”. Again, everyone had an opinion about the brand. Many fashion brands thrive on being polarising thus generating opinions and convictions.
“The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.” Paul Valery (1871- 1945)
Today, more than ever before, we know more about just about everything but less and less about the future. We have become expert micro-soothsayers and have succeeded in collapsing our entire world view into a quarter by quarter shoebox. And having done this, we keep casting about for some anchors to hold us while a deluge of uncertainties buffet us with increasing ferocity.
As audiences fragment and the “mass market” goes from reality to myth and evanescence becomes the norm rather than the exception, how can a brand survive for the long term? Some of the most robust and profitable brands today polarise people in fundamental ways. They go beyond “benefits” and “positioning”. They go beyond “category” and into the realm of culture.
Apple was in many ways one of the pioneer brands that addressed culture rather than category with their iconic “1984” advertisement and a product whose core philosophy was liberation. Today, taking simplicity, creativity and imagination forward, Apple has gone from being an iconic computer brand to celebrating the power of personal music. Apple is the No.1 distributer of music (in any format) in the US; iTunes has 65 million customer accounts and offers 8.5 million songs, 30,000 episodes of TV shows and 2,600 Hollywood movies. (Steve Jobs, September 2008). From computers to music—replacing the previously iconic Sony Walkman, a computer company usurps the space of one of the most successful and respected entertainment electronics companies in the world! Why? Because Apple has always had a clear point of view. Apple has always had those who passionately believe in it and those who are antagonistic about it. Please note that the words being used are not “loyalty” and “preference”. And now the same point of view has created a storm in mobile phones. Should Nokia worry? Maybe they should see what happened to Sony!
To quote Steve Jobs...
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently—they’re not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
Virgin is another example of a brand with a clear and vivid point of view. Again the brand polarises people. In the UK, the generation gap can be defined by the attitude towards the Virgin brand. The brand is not about “service” or “innovation” it is about a much deeper value of giving people a better deal than brands that live by category, 4Ps, profitability, etc, do. That is why category becomes irrelevant for Virgin because the brand plays on the far larger stage of human culture.
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written by Gucci outlet, July 03, 2010
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