Branding, Culture, Politics, and Everything in Between

I’ve been thinking what would be the fastest way to measure if an identity myth is resonating within an audience, sort of like the quick and dirty way of testing myths in a given market. Companies don’t have the luxury of trying different identity myths in different markets, because the risk of hitting the wrong myth is a bit scary, plus the corrective maneuvers take time. But I think I’ve found the perfect venue to test identity myths and get an immediate response from the audience: the WWE!

You telling me the Hulkster isn’t a cultural icon?

Think about it: the WWE writes new plot lines for their wrestlers pretty much every week. They experiment with different ideas and see what sticks. If something catches on, they milk it until people become bored with it. If it doesn’t catch on, they let it die and try again with a new one, and really fast at that. The writing in the WWE is all mythmaking. They play with basic character types, such as villains, heroes, lovers, jesters etc. They especially play with the notion of the going against “the establishment” (the WWE organization and Vince McMahon, the owner), which seems to constantly find its mark within the WWE’s core constituency – lower class white men.

There’s a case from not too long ago that shows how adaptive the WWE can be. In 2002, the famous Hulk Hogan returned to the WWE as a villain, but the audience started treating him as a hero. The writers quickly adapted to this turn of events and in just a few weeks they rewrote his character to be a hero. Hogan even went back to his 80s costume which had made him an icon in American pop culture. Hogan’s comeback drew huge TV ratings and even made headlines in traditional media. Hogan’s comeback became a movement and Hogan was greeted with long standing ovations at various arenas.

Why did Hogan’s comeback register so highly with the fans? Well, in 2002 I believe America was still riding a patriotic high, combined with the shock of 9/11. Hogan represented a character from America’s near past: a forgotten hero riding back to the ring to restore order. The writers of the show went even further with this: they had management “ban” Hogan, only to bring him back as a “disguised” Mr. America. They amped up the patriotism and the crowd ate it up.

I’d be nice to watch a few episodes now and try to dissect what kind of myths are resonating with the WWE’s constituency. I’m guessing the Iraq war, the Subprime crisis (I’m sure there are more than a few WWE fans that were affected by it) and the looming depression register highly with this crowd, but I don’t know what kind of myth treatment would hit its mark.

edit. And amazingly, just as I had posted this I went to my reader and lo and behold what I found after a few minutes of skimming: PSFK: Why The 80s Return Again and Again. Hulk Hogan is featured as an example. The article ends at very interesting thought, btw:

On a slightly different angle, John Harris in the Guardian argues that popular culture is increasingly defined by an unhealthy refusal to let go of the past fueled by technology that refuses to allow us to forget it. He says:

Think about it this way: whereas, say, 1968 and 1958 denoted two different worlds, how is it that 2008 and 1998 seem so close? Pop is a pretty good place to start. The idea that the people’s music was ever defined by built-in obsolescence now looks absurdly quaint. Last year’s highest-earning US tour was by the Police, while over here, the world was seemingly tilted off its axis by the reunion of the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin.

… [It] might be to recognise that fixating on the past is an in-built aspect of the human condition, but limited technology used to keep it in check. We had space and productive capacity only for so much stuff: a hidden hand cleared the cultural world of outdated clutter. And now? Bandwidth and memory grow exponentially, TV channels extend into the distance, and providing the means by which the classes of 77, 87 and 97 can get back in touch is a cinch. The same technology that we once thought would propel us into a fast-changing future stokes nostalgic appetites and condemns us to a present so laden with repetition that it’s beginning to feed back on itself.

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