Punk is…
Never having to dread getting up in the morning knowing you’ve got another day ahead of dull, dull, dull meetings.
Punk is…
Saying something in a meeting at work that jars the groupthink away from the safe, tried and trusted routes.
Punk is…
Introducing some managed chaos into the workplace to unshackle people’s thinking and inject some creativity.
Punk is…
Taking a day out of the office to do something completely different but stimulating – an art gallery, a movie, a hike - and letting your mind make the creative connections necessary to tackling problems in new ways.
Punk is…
Bringing in an expert from a completely different field – a cabinetmaker, a tree surgeon or sushi chef, for instance – to talk to your team and learn from the experience.
Punk is…
Hiring people not based on the amount of relevant experience they have in your industry but on how the unique skills they have will help the organization grow.
Punk is…
Making creativity a part of everyone’s jobs, not just the domain of a department in an agency, and judging employee performance partly based on how well they’ve used creativity to solve problems.
Punk is…
Putting yourself in others’ shoes to see in a more objective way if what you’re doing makes sense to the outside world or whether you’re just talking to yourself.
Punk is…
Being a greedy consumer of knowledge from all sources, and discovering ways to apply that information to your own business when you least expect it.
Punk is…
Finding ways to be happy in your work, knowing that happiness is good for creativity and creativity is good for more creativity, which is good for business, which makes you happy.
Punk is…
Knowing that if what you do doesn’t pass the bullshit test and isn’t meaningful, honest and interesting, you should be doing something else instead.
Punk is…
Realizing that people don’t care about your business and certainly not your marketing unless you give them a serious, no bullshit reason to care.
Punk is…
Setting impossibly high goals for yourself and thinking of crazy ways to get there before scaling back your ambitions to more achievable ones, as this will free your mind to bigger possibilities.
Punk is….
Questioning colleagues on their assumptions, and never accepting any form of the “it’s how we’ve done it before” rationale.
Dear Participant In The Punk Marketing Revolution:
You don’t need to be told that we are in the depths of a steep recession. Jobless claims are up, GNP is down, and most importantly for marketers, ad spends are projected to fall a whopping four percent this year. Trust in corporate America is non-existent. Things are bleak.
It is easy to curl into to the fetal position and wait out the warmer economic days, but if you do that, you are missing out! You see, friends, Recession actually *creates* opportunity. When there is less money, marketers have license to be more creative. The people who are scared will retreat into the traditional, boring methods of marketing – another billboard? now? - while those who think outside the bun a little bit will have the chance to be creative and thrive.
Sounds easy, but at this point you’re probably wondering how you can be part of the “in crowd” who makes a buck during the downturn. Let the gentlemen from Punk Marketing give you some tips. Key is to keep a few straightforward concepts in mind and the rest will take care of itself…with finesse and vigor!
First, you have to realize that consumers – not the media or marketers - control the market. What do consumers want? They want you to be there for them. They want to know they are buying a good product. Consumers want you to hold their hands and show them what to buy. They want to feel like they are part of American-led innovations.
Example: A recent Brooks Brothers ad entitled Generations of Style may as well have been clipped from a 1949 life magazine. the message: “We are an American institution, it’s OK to buy from us!”
Once you’ve determined the right angle with which to position your product, remember that marketing in 2009 is like war, but less bloody. We are fighting people who never want to leave their homes, and when we capture them, we shower them with love. After you get consumers to consume, you must reward them for taking the plunge. Reassurance is one of the big changes that needs to be made to adjust.
OK – you know how to position your product, you know how to treat your customers after you get them to buy, but how about the actual marketing?
Simply put: Tone is more important than ever. Your message is meaningless today if you say it with the wrong tone. Your messages should be WARM in the cold recession. Fill people with warmth. People need to feel good about what they are buying, not just adequate.
Take for example, the latest Crown Royal TV spot – the typical alpha male pool shark wins every game at the pub, but leaves early every night to shoot a game or two with his dad, while enjoying Crown Royal. Isn’t that precious? Kind of makes me want to spend $35 on a fifth of bourbon, just to feel better.
Beyond the message and its position and tone, there is a very practical aspect of selling that many marketers completely miss: focus groups do not represent your customers. Your customers represent your customers. Listen to them! Do not make your customers feel stupid by telling them what research presumes they are thinking! Original Punk Marketer Henry Ford once famously said that if he listened to what his customers thought they wanted, they would have said “a faster horse.”
Your message should be crafted in a way that provides people with the idea that they are getting something of value when they purchase your product instead of just a low price. Cheap is what chickens do! People want to feel like they are getting a deal on something that costs a little more.
Nissan’s latest move is an excellent illustration of this. It started selling a $12,000 car — the Nissan Versa — for just under $10,000. All of the sudden, car buyers were getting a deal – a brand new car for below the psychological barrier of a five digit price. Excellent move, Nissan.
The line between low-cost and value is often precarious, and complicated even further by the fact that in a recession, consumers do not want to spend large amounts of money. Big ticket items are no longer the big sellers. Huge capital outlays are for the birds. You need to pick and choose what kinds of products fit the bill: Instead of selling that 52” plasma, how about selling a Blu-ray disc with a pack of microwave popcorn?
Just as consumer spending is principled these days, all recession marketing must be similarly principled. Stick to your customers like your job depends on it, because it does. Now is perhaps not the best time to be over-aggressively pursuing new customers. You need to hang on to your existing customers. They already love you with their wallets!
Creativity plays a big part of the successful recession marketer’s arsenal. There are a few sources of media left that consumers actually listen to. The Internet is one. This is, remember, 2009. There is no excuse for dismissing the online world as fringe. Start using some 2009 methods to get the message out. Twitter, Wordpress, Facebook, Wikipedia, Ning sites, etc. are your friends - these are not cliches in any way. Using them is no longer optional – it is compulsory. Everybody uses a computer now. Don’t you think you ought to start? everyone and their mother is carrying an iPhone or a Blackberry these days – isn’t it about time you figured out how to get to them via their mobile device?
Along with a solid, disciplined message, consumers want clear and concise choices. Don’t confuse them with options and bells and whistles. Be one thing – one really great thing. Tylenol sells no less than 14 kinds of sinus medication. Don’t make your buyers have to become experts on the ins and outs of your product. Hit them over the head with focused and deft marketing, and the rest will take care of itself.
The well-informed, principled, disciplined, and savvy marketer must always keep in mind that marketing is not always the most important thing that your company has in mind. You absolutely must choose your battles. As a marketer, you aren’t going to get every dollar you want. That’s where that noggin of yours comes into play. Didn’t get the $15,000 you wanted for billboards? No big deal. Think up something better to use in hopes that you get the $2,000 for AdWords on a great and unexpected content site. Money is finite – and companies aren’t likely to give you all the dollars you need. Don’t let that be an excuse for running yet another lame radio ad, ok?
Look, friend. Things are bad, no doubt. Chances are they are going to get bad before they get better. This is where you earn your stripes as a marketing pro. Stick to what we know works well and ride out this downturn. This can be your time to shine — if you choose to make it your time to shine.
Punk Marketing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/punkmarketing (duh); paperback Punk Marketing on 5/15.
Bad news is the new good news. Jump on the bandwagon.
Bad news is absolutely everywhere. It is unavoidable. The economy is in shambles, 50 million Americans are without health insurance, unemployment is on the rise in numbers that scare even me, and 43 out of 50 states are now operating on a budget deficit. Meanwhile, some enterprising projects have figured out how to keep their heads above water and even prosper in some cases despite experiencing these bleakest of times by making the (now official) recession seem almost cool.
Kind of.
A great example of the general mopiness of society today is found on television. Maury Povich, the veteran host whose syndicated “talk” show is only slightly less cartoonish than Jerry Springer, has made a living for 10 (!) seasons telling people bad news and reveling in it. People parade onto his stage to be told after a DNA test that they “are NOT the father” or be made aware after a lie detector test that their partner has “cheated with more than 3 women.” (For a fabulous – and farcical – version of this concept, set your DVR to catch the haughty and hilarious The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle with Jennifer Saunders on The Sundance Channel!)
Anyway, entering its 11th season, Maury is holding steady to decent ratings, even outpacing Martha-lite Rachael in some markets. People are apparently looking for anything showing that someone else is in even worse off than they.
Product marketers are also getting into the act. SC Johnson, A (Really-Large) Family Company, is playing up the economic crisis by advertising its inexpensive line of scented oil candles, Glade, as a fantastic alternative to paying more money for the same great-smelling (?) effect. In an ad now playing everywhere, each time a woman lights an expensive candle, it makes a cash register-like CHA-CHING noise. The implication is “Hey! You’ve got no money. Why are you spending 25 cents every time you light that candle, when you could buy a Glade (or “Glaw-Day” as they lampoon themselves as fancy and French in the ad) for a mere penny?”
Glade is still kind of a crummy product – there is a reason why it is so inexpensive – but $3 and a trip to Target sure beats paying Yankee Candle $25 for the freaking privilege of having my kitchen smell like fresh-baked cookies. (Who doesn’t love fresh baked, right?)
Even in what was once recession-proof New York, the local restaurants and businesses are pushing Recession Specials—as if we need a reminder. A popular sandwich shop in Park Slope had a grilled cheese and a cup of soup for four bucks this weekend (it was yummy!). Four bucks is larceny in the trendiest and yuppiest part of Brooklyn! On the last visit, Cookie couldn’t fry the gruyere on organic brioche fast enough.
So, kid, you want to generate some good news? Jump on the bad news wagon cause it certainly won’t be going away anytime soon, despite the overwhelming election of the anti-Bush.
It appears that be you baker, bank, or candle maker, you make people feel like they are saving some dough via your service or product and you’re the best thing since bread or bucks or beeswax, baby.
