ALL MARKETERS SHOULD BE PUNK ROCKERS
If I had it my way, I would only work with clients that are punk rockers.
In my contract, next to the dotted line, a printed statement would say: "I solemnly swear that I will always go against the grain, the mainstream, the proven and safe approach for doing things, and I will always, always aim to fuck shit up, even if I fail".
Punk rock was a music genre that emerged as an active resistance to the perceived musical, economic, and social excesses of mainstream 1970s music. It was music that had rebellion imprinted on its DNA. It was music made by rejects.
From my perspective, that's what creative people are; rejects. Maybe there's some kind of trauma, a strict religious upbringing, or we weren't breastfed as children, but something within us wants to challenge the norm, to step beyond the line, to mess with the rules.
True creative expression doesn’t fit the average, instead, it should feel like a kick to the head. It should make you snap from the confines of the mundane and make you see things differently. The aim of creativity should never be about fitting in but about standing out, and that's especially true in the role of communication.
“Advertising is poison gas. It should bring tears to your eyes, unhinge your nervous system and knock you out.”
The problem is that that's not how most people think. There's an innate human need to feel safe and secure, to follow the status quo, and that’s especially true in the corporate world.
Marketing and advertising have changed a lot, but our thinking hasn't. Back in the day, the combination of increasing prosperity, endless consumer desire, fewer choices, and mass media lead to a magic formula: If you advertise to the masses, sales will go up. That formula worked for a while, and we kept making average ads about products for average people.
But things have changed. If you visit any store now, you will find an endless number of brands offering the exact same product disguised with a different logo. On top of that, people are constantly bombarded with an infinite number of ads. No wonder people hate them and that they no longer work the way they used to.
We have been brainwashed. The industrial revolution and schools have trained us to become factory workers. To do one thing, do it well and keep quiet. That's why most advertising and marketing suck because we haven't changed our view on what it is for and what it is capable of doing.
Instead of spamming and yelling the same old sermon, marketers have the opportunity to embrace their inner punk and genuinely aim to shake things up. In the act of rebellion, they should shift their focus from the mainstream to the specific and act boldly. Their focus should be on understanding the worldview of a very niche group of people, working on developing products and services that cater to their needs, and doing it in a way that breaks category standards.
Why body hair doesn’t exist in commercials:
Why all insurance ads look and feel the same:
Can our product cater to all people?
Why does advertising have to be a one-way communication?
Can our product help with the environment?
Marketing has the potential to shape culture, and you don't get to do that by having a business as usual attitude; you do it by questioning the way things are in order to rise above the surface level and get people to notice.