I’ve been trying to come up with a metaphor or explanation as to why meaning management and cultural branding are relevant and (in my opinion) the only ways to approach branding and why I’m interested in the field. I think I finally got the right metaphor.
The car manufacturer Toyota has a somewhat famous problem solving process called the “Five whys” that is heavily tied to their design principles. Sakichi Toyoda came up with the concept, and Toyota uses the “Five Whys” in their training extensively. The basic idea is that you drill down the problem until you are at the heart of it. Ask “why” enough times and you will find the real problem or the real reason for a phenomenon:
My car will not start. (the problem)
1. Why? – The battery is dead. (first why)
2. Why? – The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
3. Why? – The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
4. Why? – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and has never been replaced. (fourth why)
5. Why? – I have not been maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, root cause)
And here’s where we come to metaphor relating to branding. I’ll use Apple as an example.
People like Apple’s products
1. Why? – Because Apple’s products are cool.
2. Why are the products cool? – Because cool people use them, and I want to be associated with them.
3. Why are these people cool? – Because these people work in the creative industries, or at least portray that sort of ethos or behavior. Apple is the brand of choice for creative industries.
4. Why is working in the creative industries cool? – Because being creative in one’s job is something that people aspire to.
5. Why do people want to be creative at their jobs? – Because changes in the workplace through the layoff-laden 90s, cost-cutting, and the ensuing slacker-age left a lot of people (especially young people) disillusioned with the corporate world and this created a huge cultural demand for achievement in the workplace that was not tied to working in large corporations or “moving up the ranks”. This is where the creative industries with their low hierarchies, limited structuring and discipline but still high sense of achievement became in vogue, call it the “bohemian bourgeois” dream.
Bad marketers know that Apple is “cool” and will just try to leech off its cultural value without knowing any of the meanings or understanding populist worlds that Apple occupies. Somewhat capable marketers will at least understand the socio-demographic field that Apple occupies (they might even know the word “hipster”) and not totally embarrass themselves when trying to leverage Apple’s cultural value. But they are far from “culturally aware” brand thinkers. I’d say that a large number of advertising professionals in most agencies fall into this category (“why number 3″, or number 4, if they’re lucky), meaning that they understand how to handle a brand and position it within a target audience, but they don’t understand the cultural value of a brand and can forecast its relevance or track its historical arc, nor can they make a distinction between a target audience and a populist world. This is why so many once-successful campaigns suddenly lose their steam. It’s not because the campaign or the idea is bad or badly executed, it has become culturally irrelevant, even culturally harmful.
I’m not saying that I’m a “why #5″ type of brander (yet, at least) myself, I’m just saying that this is brand thinkers should be aiming for. The two only “why #5″ branders I can think of are Grant McCracken and Douglas Holt. I’m sure there are others, especially ones that unknowingly or intuitively manage to always navigate brands to the right cultural field. For example, read McCracken’s take on the “I’m a PC” campaign, it seems that Mr. Bogusky and his gang are that kind of agency that have a feel for culture. I’ve blogged about Crispin’s Microsoft work before.
Good stuff as always.
I'm a bit feverish right now, so I started thinking: 5 Why's is just one possible problem-solving technique, might there be any other useful metaphors or thinking models for branding? Like, say, fishbone diagrams?
Well, my intention was to show that most brand thinkers' thinking is only on the same level as if you had asked only 3 Whys. I'm sure there's a better metaphor or thinking model that exemplifies branding as a PRACTICE. Now I just wanted to show that most brand thinkers stop before they've really reached the core of the consumer's problem.
Well, my intention was to show that most brand thinkers' thinking is only on the same level as if you had asked only 3 Whys. I'm sure there's a better metaphor or thinking model that exemplifies branding as a PRACTICE. Now I just wanted to show that most brand thinkers stop before they've really reached the core of the consumer's problem.
Aw, this was a really nice post. In idea I wish to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and in no way appear to get something done.