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- Your ATTN Please || Saturday, 3 May
Your ATTN Please || Saturday, 3 May
Brace yourselves, we’re about to get… POLITICAL - DUN DUN DUUUUN!
In recent years there’s been some heavy politicisation of marketing, but also a strong marketisation of politics. Everything’s gotten so trivial and tribalised, now the most mundane things you consume can (apparently) reveal your political beliefs. It’s all one big feedback loop, where brands and politicians support one another to earn your fealty. But don’t worry - there’s still ways to break the cycle!
- Devin, Guest Editor
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?
NY Jets marketer takes on Hard Rock, the WNBA takes on Sephora & Nike takes on (more) backlash
Can a New York Jets marketing veteran save Hard Rock?
Over the last 3 years, the iconic Hard Rock Café has closed their doors permanently in multiple locations. And while the global brand still has over 200 locations in 75 countries, running restaurants, hotels, casinos and live music venues… the name kind of… fell off (in my humble opinion.) When I was a kid, the coolest thing to do when going ANYWHERE on vacation would be coming home with a fresh Hard Rock tee. Now, you only seem to find them in thrift stores. That being said, the franchise still pulls US$5.9 billion a year in revenue, so my humble opinion quite possibly doesn’t mean shit.
Regardless, Hard Rock has pulled in Tim Kemp, former Senior Director of Marketing for the New York Jets as the SVP. Serving 8 seasons for the Jets, Kemp was responsible for the team’s rebrand, which included working with Nike to create a new uniform set drawing inspiration from the 1980s “New York Sack Exchange”, a period of relative glory for the team. “When I look at the social ecosystem of Hard Rock, I see limitless potential,” Kemp told AdWeek. Excited to see what the partnership brings!
Sephora takes over women’s basketball.
Every brand has wanted a piece of the WNBA pie as of late, the latest to tap in being Sephora. So far, they’ve appeared in the form of partnerships with the two newest WNBA teams, as well as a cameo in the Netflix sports comedy series Running Point, in which Kate Hudson plays the president of her family’s pro basketball team.
According to Marketing Brew, the push is due to the brand wanting to show up as an authority on beauty across different cultural touchpoints, from sports to music to entertainment. It’s about being involved in the conversation - not just advertising - and women’s sports are a huge cultural and conversational touchpoint right now. Well played, Sephora.
Nike faces (more) backlash – this time for its ads at the London Marathon.
I know one thing Nike will “Never Again” be doing: Using that exact phrase. The company ran ads alongside the London Marathon on Sunday, directed at the 56,000 participants running the gruelling race. The billboards included the slogans “Never again, until next year” and “Never again, see you next year” - inspirational quotes seemingly oblivious to the fact that “never again” is a vow used to remember the Holocaust and prevent such atrocities from happening again.
With reports of rising antisemitism around the world, it’s clear Nike didn’t think these slogans through very well. However, it’s hard to believe that any harm was intended, with the billboards being part of the brand’s wider “Winning Isn’t Comfortable” campaign built on runners’ insights for the sake of motivation. Regardless, it’s a shit week to be Nike, who’s also currently being sued by purchasers of their NFTs that went through the floor. Big yikes.
Anyway, that’s all folks!
-Sophie, Writer
DEEP DIVE
Politics & marketing: Who’s selling who? And who really pays for it?
Why does it feel like most political ideologies we’re exposed to these days is actually influencer marketing in a serious suit?
That’s because politics is marketing, and marketing is politics. The lines are so blurred, you can barely tell which one you're consuming anymore. @sighswoon put it perfectly when calling it “a sort of script repeated before you’re sold something else”.
“I believe in this, so you should buy into this” is basically the eternal marketing modality. It's not surprising, but still good to be aware of, as it’s being weaponized harder than ever.
Not just to move products - but to move minds.
I say this as someone who has watched so many people post The Script™ online and then live lives that completely contradict it. Because it’s not about real beliefs anymore. It’s about marketing. - period.
We left the "customer is king" era a long time ago, probably around the time bots started leaving reviews. Now, it’s a cult. It’s all belief-based marketing: pick your allegiance, swear your loyalty, and consume accordingly.
An article will go viral and scream at you "THIS is the new ideology that matters now! No previous ideologies matter! Disregard them all!” or “this is what the 'good guys' are doing, you should do it too.” And immediately, a train of products, services, influencers, and “thought leaders” rolls out to support it.
You’re not just buying a product anymore. You’re buying a belief.
A side. A coalition. And your purchases, your follows, your reposts - they’re treated like votes. And most of the time, the brands don’t care what side you pick. They just want you to pick a side. Because loyalty = spending. Division = revenue. That’s the game - and it’s never been easier for them.
Everything now is "right-coded" or "left-coded," no matter how stupidly mundane: Your shoes? Political. Your coffee order? So right-leaning babe. Your freaking pancake mix? Probably too woke.
Welcome to the marketer’s paradise:
Manufactured tribalism. Endless outrage. Eternal brand engagement. Politics sell products, and products sell politics. The feedback loop is never-ending.
Writers, artists and thinkers point toward a future free of binary thinking, where the truth is complicated, messy and bigger than these manufactured "sides". But marketing is not built for complexity - it need simplicity to thrive. It needs us vs. them. It needs you to pock a team and stay mad about the other side - because anger keeps the machine running.
But this isn’t anything new - it's all innate human behaviour (just the Instagram-sponsored version of it).
There's one thing I need you to remember from this as marketing becomes more politically coded: its just another product. It’s just milk. It’s a vitamin. It's bloody pancake mix. Be objective and normal. Each side is playing the same game, and ultimately it's all about trying to sell you something.
So please, don't fall for the ideologies. Do your own damn coding.
-Sophie, Writer
TREND PLUG
I'm so hungry
You know when you're so hungry, you'd eat just about anything put in front of you?”
Like an entire pepperoni pizza, bucket of KFC, or, you know, your dad's childhood best friend? Ok, maybe not that last one! But today's trend is all about catching someone off guard by saying you could eat an obscure person from their past (don't ask how we got here!)!
Creators are saying their outrageous snack fantasies not directly to the listener. Instead, they say them as offhand comments within earshot, almost to themselves. Think, "I'm so hungry, I could eat..."
Because of the extremely odd comment, the listeners invariably give a "WTF" reaction, which is what makes these videos so funny.
How you can jump on this trend:
Decide who you're going to prank (your boss, your desk buddy, a good-natured client). Then, do a little digging to find the name of a person from their past (if it's someone from 10+ years ago, even better).
When you're ready, discreetly put the camera on your victim and casually say, "I'm so hungry, I could eat [insert name here]." Film their reaction, then use OST to give context about who that person is to them.
A few ideas to get you started:
I'm so hungry, I could eat [your client's colleague from 15 years ago]
I'm so hungry, I could eat [your work bestie's high school boyfriend]
I'm so hungry, I could eat [someone tagged in a 2014 Facebook photo with your boss]
- Charlotte, Editor ♡
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ASK THE EDITOR
I'm always running out of content ideas for my small business. How do I keep creating content when I don't know what to post about? -Tamara
Hey Tamara!
Most people think each new piece of content needs to come from a new idea. But, in our team, we produce hundreds of pieces of content each week, and these all stem from just a few concepts. You only really need a handful of repeatable concepts that you can create content around.
So when you think you have a good concept, ask yourself whether you can create 100 videos or posts about it. If not, it's not right, and you need to spend some more time coming up with what those core concepts are for your brand. Once you've got those right, you should never run out of content ideas.
- Charlotte, Editor ♡
Not going viral yet?
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