DO! OR DIE! Brands
VIVA LA REVOLUCION! It’s time to take action people. Or should we say… it's damn fckn OVERTIME!!
Look around you and you see that our world is in a shit load of trouble and all of us right along with it. Sadly the path ahead looks steep downhill from here. The political, social and ecological situation on our planet is deteriorating faster than you can say:
“I want the new I-Phone!”
If this mess is still fixable, every CULTURE, COUNTRY and CORPORATION has to change their ways and contribute to a more positive way forward.
Karl Marx foresaw that capitalism would be replaced by communism for the betterment of the world. Well, that didn’t happen. Communism didn’t replace capitalism, nor did it better the world in any way. However, with communism defeated and discredited, unchecked capitalism is fulfilling some of Marx’ other, bleaker predictions:
The relentless drive for profits requires constant growth and with it an insatiable appetite for cheap labor and natural resources anywhere they can be found. The result is unsustainable.
Pressure on wages, results in fewer and fewer people being able to afford the goods they produce.
We see the result in the destruction of the middle class in America and in the lack of their arising in emerging markets. We also see it in the destruction of the environment with 150 square miles of forest being cleared each day, 75% of the world’s fish stock gone, along with half our species.
Meanwhile money is centralizing at a frightful pace. The richest 85 people in the world have more wealth than the poorest 3 billion.
As this trend continues, get ready corporations and marketers to sell your wares to those few dozen people. Good luck on getting your hands on some of that itty-bitty bit of trickle-down!
Our ‘oh so fabulous’ capitalism first killed the idea of communism and now it kills itself, and us and the planet we live on right with it. Is that inevitable? Maybe, maybe not.
However there is no denying that truly revolutionary change at a grand scale is needed to prevent the complete destruction. BIG BRANDS and corporations HAVE TO play a leading role in turning our world around, because the ones who don’t… will DIE first.
Marketers and advertisers have to work hand in hand with corporations and play a pivotal role in this positive change for the very selfish reason that no MAD MEN in the world is smart enough to sell products to an impoverished customer living on a depleted planet.
Corporations and big brands have to take on the big responsibility that comes with their tremendous power. That means to act socially and ecologically responsible. A more and more educated consumer is no longer seduced by just another product from another giant. Consumers will ever increasingly base their purchase decision on brands’ holistic behavior. Therefore, a brand’s business practice will become its most essential marketing tool and has to become central to its communication.
First off, marketers and advertisers have to stop marching down the new communication pipelines, filling them with “BRANDED CONTENT GARBAGE" to prompt a “Like” from the masses, without a very good understanding of what it might be good for. No “click”, “Tweet” or “Like” is a reflection of a true human emotion or prompts an action, much less one that will necessarily be turned into the purchase of your product.
Thousands of "hits" are absolutely meaningless, if you as a brand are MEANINGLESS and your brand message is nothing but a BIG BLACK HOLE!
The time is NOW to stop the barrage of nonsensical content BS and instead engage with your consumer through something they can fundamentally trust and believe in. And then, and only then you will be “liked” in a way that actually turns into $$$$.
In our overpopulated, overproduced and over-communicated world your only way to break through all that tech chatter is to have an INNOVATIVE, EMOTIONAL and MEANINGFUL STORY to tell. A truthful story that comes out of the DNA of your brand and doesn’t just appear like some strangely attached third boob.
The awareness of the magnitude of our crisis is growing everyday and more and more people strive to do their piece in small and bigger ways by shopping locally and organically at the farmers market, by recycling every little screw cap and by rationing their water. There is a clear desire on the part of the consumer to be a part of a larger movement and to have a POSITIVE CHOICE for each and every one of the products they buy.
Brands have to understand that their actions, their way of producing, their corporate culture and their awareness towards the needs of their consumers is not their secret to keep anymore. Transparency is the code word of this century and if they like it or not, EVERYTHING is here for everyone to see.
Like Tesla for cars, Tom’s for shoes and Wholefoods for food, there will be a POSITIVE market leader in EVERY category who understands this and who will get ahead of the competition due to being conscious and by catering to this expanding market.
Naturally, change is harder for the bigger and long established brands, but they will not be immune to the forces of the market, a market that is demanding the reduction of their footprint and the pay of fair wages. Customers today are informed and aware and they are fed up with products that give them cancer, one allergy after another or further burden the environment. They fully embrace and understand the concept that… what you give, you will ultimately get back. They believe in products and support and buy brands that do "their stuff" right. Just the way they, in their lives, strive to do "their stuff" right.
IGNORING THIS GROWING TREND WILL BECOME QUICKLY THE SINGLE BIGGEST COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE.
Meanwhile, believe it or not, customers want to connect with brands, maybe now more so than ever. However, ONLY, if that Brand speaks THEIR language and plays by THEIR rules: the rules of being conscious and doing things right by the people, the planet and by the future of us all.
As this new generation of consumers continues to grow, it influences the generations before and after. Their combined purchase behavior will decide which brand will LIVE and which will DIE . This brings me straight to the point:
How endangered are you?
If your Brand already had its wake up call and operates sustainably, you should be on the sunny side of marketing and have no worries.
However, if you are one of many brands who are still in the dark ages and think you can get away with it, well honestly, you are in a bucket full of trouble. Even if your quarterlies still look promising, the problem will reveal itself sooner rather than later.
We all know, change has to happen while you are strong and kicking and not when you are already with one "massive footprint" in the grave.
Now if you are brave and look at your brand through crystal clear glasses, do you feel you have what it takes to engage with consumers in this transparent new world?
We all know that brands, small or big have to make constant shifts in order to stay current. Right now, however, these shifts cannot just be about how to be more profitable by streamlining the production process or how to make an old product seem fancy and new by changing the wrapper. At this moment in time, the shift has to be about becoming part of a grander solution rather than growing the already gigantic problem! It is about joining or even better leading a movement for the sake of a better, healthier planet and your future of sustainable economic growth.
In the very near future one brand in each product category will prosper and take leadership, due to its conscious and sustainable behavior. By the laws of competition this will not get unnoticed and others will follow suit, just because they have to. Now you have companies from all fields, competing to be consumer’s best friend again by creating thoughtful and sustainable products. What a fantastic concept! Out of capitalism’s ruthless and relentless competitive drive something beautiful has spawned. A powerful domino effect of "DOING IT RIGHT". DOING GOOD FOR PROFIT.
Suddenly marketing dollars will be spent with one, and only one thing in mind:
TO FURTHER STIR THE DEMAND FOR HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS PRODUCED CONSCIOUSLY.
During this evolution the brands which clean up their act first will prosper more, and the ones that adapt too late will fall behind and DIE in accordance with the laws of competition.
Just one shift in priorities is all it takes and …BOOM, BIG-TIME POSITIVE change is here. And amazingly so, everybody wins. The brand, the consumer and eventually the whole world.
Now what would actually happen, IF ALL BRANDS got to the point of producing all their goods healthily and sustainably?
BRANDS WOULD SAVE THE WORLD!
Or to illustrate it with a little formula:
==> Innovate your cool product line in accordance with healthy principles
==> Spread the word through innovative creative work
==> Watch real LIKES roll in
==> Become the leader in healthy thinking and production in your category
==> Make major $$$$
==> Change the world
==> Be happy!!! Really happy.
Think about it. Just like that, A BRAND NEW WORLD is created! A new order, where doing good is the essential core element to prosperity.
Who says that corporations have to be ruthless to be profitable? That’s just seriously old thinking. Soon companies will compete in being and doing better for their very own prosperity! The competition of the future will be:
WHO CAN BE BETTER AT BEING BETTER?
Who wouldn’t want that?
That's where Marx was wrong. Capitalism was not to be replaced by communism, but by a more humane, more sustainable capitalism, a system, which saves the world for profit and competes for doing it cleaner, safer and more humanely.
This, and only this fundamental change implemented today and not tomorrow can save this planet. And we all have to play our part in it.
So my friend….if you are a leader and not a follower than go ahead and jump. The world of consumers will catch you and embrace you and “Like” you more than you could ever imagine. If your foundation and the guiding principles of your company is GOOD than everything that you build on top of that will be GOOD. Your brand voice will stand for something far bigger than just a cool little viral hit with cats or fart jokes. It will be here for the long run. It will become epic and inspirational.
A BRAND that stands for this kind of HEALTHY THINKING can do ANYTHING.
It can produce the coolest stunts and the hottest videos, kick off the most interesting collaborations and use the newest technology so much more powerfully, because it rings true. And needless to say creative expression is endless for someone with a true story that comes from THE HEART.
So, let’s go people. LET'S UNFCK THE WORLD ONE BRAND AT A TIME!
Sincerely STB @ DO OR DIE DARES
