The
Battle For Coca-Cola
Rages On.
Ain't
Nothing Like
The Real Thing, Maybe.
I
Don't Mean To Say
I Told You So, But...
Are
Consumers Smarter
Then We Are?.
The
Four Great Myths
Of Global Branding.
Mr
Bevis Butts Heads
At Mitsubishi
The
Best Laid Plans
Of Mice And Men.
Dare
to Be Great:
The Mad Genius of "The Matrix"
Mitsubishi's
New Marketing Boss
Out Of The Frying Pan.
Concept Is Stronger Than Fact.
Value
Perception In A World
Gone Mad With "Cool"
The
Future of Advertising
The Brand
The
Future of Advertising
The Targets
The
Future of Advertising
The Grid
The
Future of Advertising
The Swarm
Technology
Making The Message
Meaningful
The Only Business That Matters Is The One You're In.
What
Ever Happened To The
Big Idea?
The Post-Advertising Era Is Here
Confessions Of A" Liar For Hire"
Good, Bad and Ugly At the Moment of Truth
A Post-Advertising "Big Idea".
The Value Of A Paying Pustomer.
Emergence Of the "Empire of One".
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The Post-Advertising Era 1.9. All Customers Are Created Equal. A great deal will be said in the coming months about the casualties resulting in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina Tragedy/Travesty. Little attention, however, will be paid to the greatest casualty of all; the final nail pounded into the coffin that held the myth of "Liberty and justice for all." It is not the purpose of this column to spout political rhetoric or commentary. The only party I support is the Capitalist Party. The occurrences of the past month as regards the events surrounding Katrina are much larger than politics. They have migrated across the line to Anthropology. Or, as Mr. Webster describes it, The Science of Human Beings. |
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This has been a classic study of how we as a nation interact with each other. And how our media interacts with us. It has been both inspiring and frightening at the same time. Random acts of selfless heroism that shows the human condition at its best. Senseless acts of racial bias and institutional bigotry that have defined us as a nation to a world already convinced of our moral bankruptcy. I have no interest in using this column to recount those events that have come to pass in the lives and experiences of others. The national and local media have already outdone themselves in that area of endeavor..
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"Right with you... this weeks article hit the mark. Prosperity hides a lot of shite! It's only crisis where survival really becomes the focus... not just getting by. People have lived "soft" for too long.P.H. Bangkok Prosperity also hides a lot of swastikas.-HW |
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I can only recount to you my own little corner of this tragedy of Biblical scale, that, if not for you the reader, and I the writer, would have passed into oblivion with all of the other minor yet anonymous tales of woe. Washed away with the tides of our common disinterest. Like many of you reading this page, when news of Katrina hit, I was moved to do something, anything, that might provide relief or assistance to the hapless victims of the storm. First on my list was to pull the dumbass drivel I had written on the branding of a fictitious product called "Turnapples" and replace it with a heartfelt plea for my loyal readers to support the Katrina relief effort. Thank you to the three of you who so generously responded. Feeling confident that there was much more that creative practitioners like myself could contribute, I recruited a team of writers, creative directors, designers, TV producers and a wonderful PR person to address the task. The result was the repurposing of a wish-fullfilment reality show entitled "Step Up America" done earlier, that we refocused to the mission of rebuilding the Gulf Coast. To this effort, we added a fundraising campaign that entreated corporate America to donate an amount equal to one day of their total advertising budget to make the rebuilding viable. "Give Us This Day" was our battle cry to rally the troops. Our goal was to raise more than $300 million to get the job done. Websites were built overnight. Pitches were made to the networks. Celebrity presenters were recruited, Huge construction companies were tapped to administer the funds. We were off and running. Major business publications expressed an interest in covering our efforts. Even a prominent Senator stood ready to endorse our program. And then America chimed in with what it really thought about the events on the Gulf Coast. And the poison began to spread. Soon, even our tight knit little group that had done so much with so little, so fast began to show signs of infection. Words like "entitlement" began creeping into our meetings. People began questioning whether we should do anything to rebuild homes, "that should never have been built there in the first place." References cropped up about the value of, "helping people who would shoot at their own rescuers." Suddenly the emphasis morphed from "rebuilding" to "rethinking." More thought was being given to "how the audience would respond." The big question was no longer, will corporate America respond to our message; but rather, which would you rather watch: a show about rebuilding a neighborhood in New Orleans or "Desperate Housewives." America had won yet another victory against its worst enemy. Its poorest citizens. Every time I overheard the voices of my team mates complaining about their grandchildren paying for some black person's new swimming pool I wondered if they felt the same about that black person's great grandfather and the contribution his slave labor had made to their ability to have a swimming pool. I knew that what had started out as a mission of mercy had now degenerated into just another "development project" to be compared with the offerings of the Oprah Winfrey Show and Extreme Home Makeover. So I mustered what little resolve I had left (a scant 24 hours before we were to present "Step Up America: Give Us This Day" to Nancy Daniels, VP of Programming at CBS) and pulled the plug. "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death, your right to say it" was a quote that always made me proud of this amazing nation of ours and its diversity of thought. Now I just find myself asking where were all these comments were on "entitlements" and "handouts," when Hurricane Ivan ripped through Florida. Yes, my interest in the plight of my fellow Americans is but one more casualty of Hurricane Katrina. I would much rather be watching "Desperate Housewives." But where does such thinking leave me as a marketing person, and self appointed standard bearer in the Post-Advertising Era. Now that I have qualitative and quantitative proof that we Americans don't really give a fuck about the poorest among us. And I quote a note sent to me by one of my "team" members. "Fact, if you are poor and uneducated in America, this is what happens. Fact, if you depend on the government, you will be sorely disappointed. Fact, if you are poor in America, there is no reason for you to be uneducated. Its free! 12 grades. And if you really apply yourself, there is enough grants and assistance out there for higher education, which will raise you above the poverty level. And no longer will you depend on the government and be disappointed." Where indeed? I don't think this and other simular messages were lost on the lower rungs of our society. I think they will view New Orleans and the resultant commentary as an indication of things to come. If they didn't realize it before, they most certainly realize it now. America wants them dead and gone. Where were their corporate beneficiaries in the midst of all of this? Where was Coca-Cola? Blacks make up more than 70% of their market. Where was Nike? Black teens buy their $200+ sneaks by the score. McDonald's? Absent. KFC? Absent. The cigarette and liquor companies? AWOL. What will the reaction be to those brand's lack of interest in their key consumer franchise being vilified in the press as "looters" and "loafers?" Madison Avenue had commercials on the air 24 hours after 9/11 extolling the heroism of NYPD and NYFD. Were there no acts of heroism in the wake of Katrina worthy of Coca-Cola's attention in light of the character assassination of more than half of it's consumer franchise? Apparently none worthy of notice. In the Post Advertising Era, brands will be far more responsive to the plight as well as interests of their core consumer franchises. Brands will understand the value of standing beside their customers hand-in-hand, not just hand-in-pocket. And perhaps even we creative people will come to realize the difference between crafting clever messages, and being cleverly manipulated by them.
Stay tuned.
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