I love the fact that Corona beer sales have gone up during the pandemic. I'm not sure there has been anything better to prove that much of what we do is about getting a brand front of mind - and it's really efficient to get there by aligning with what's happening in real life.
In other words, surfing the wave of actual culture is commercial rocket fuel. That's what many PR and social media specialists will tell you.
But I think that approach alone, is just another example of short term thinking.
Of course, brands that talk to some sort of tension in real life do well. Life is more interesting than brands, people buy holes, not drills etc.
However, if all you have is a collection of tactics that don't add up to something bigger, the effect of each one wears off really quick.
It's no different to constant reliance on promotions. Both are addictive, both feel good in the short-term, both harm you in the longer term, because the biggest profit comes from building brand preference over a longer period.
Which means every single piece of activity needs to be building towards the same direction. Call it story, call is vision or even an ecosystem if you like.
That's the trick with how things are these days. Life moves faster, you need to react to that and sometimes even provoke.
If you spend months naval gazing, you miss your moment. The nimble and fleet of foot can tie the big boys in knots by keeping everyone guessing.
It just all needs to add up to something.
Think about the great pieces of popular culture out there, what we're really up against.
You know what kind of telly to expect from HBO, there is a 'HBOness' to HBO output. It's the same for Channel 4 in the UK or any media brand.
I love Curb Your Enthusiasm. 10 seasons in, it's still the story of a man with no filter. It started out dealing with what happens when someone doesn't have a purpose in life. Every season has dealt another theme, including political correctness and even racial tension. Endlessly surprising and inventive, but about one thing.
That's no different to when Paddy Power only did PR stunts. On the face of it inconsistent, but actually, the story of what happens when you give a voice what sports fans are really feeling.
Just as, arguably, Nike always tacks between different expressions of the point of view that 'if you have a body you're an athlete'. Or that nothing should come between people and the benefits of sport. They wrote the most amazing ads about equality in the 80s, they challenged snobbery in tennis and so on.
When you resolve the tension between acting now and thinking long, you're onto something.
The dance between consistency and surprise.
It's not easy, but then again, things that are worth it rarely are.
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