Brett Goldhawk ponders the arrival of a new marketing era plagued by the rise of rejection
We are in a new era of marketing and it’s not what you probably think…
Various sources have cited different eras of marketing; debatable and sometimes different but generally themed around Mass Marketing in the industrial revolution, the Production Era of the late 1800s, the Sales Era of the 1920s, right through to recent additions like Human-centric Marketing, the transfer from Traditional to Digital Marketing (the Tech Revolution which of course is still happening, AI being a case in point), the current era of Relationship/Social and – some hope – a revolutionary new era of Sustainability and Environmental. Where they truly start and finish, who knows.
The problem, however, with defining marketing eras is that people have no idea it’s happening until we’ve reached tipping point, the at which a new behaviour is widely adopted and becomes socially acceptable – a dramatic change in behaviour that we haven’t previously witnessed and rarely dissipates once it’s established. It’s also worth a caveat that, although I believe we’ve reached a tipping point of a new era of marketing, I don’t believe many people have adopted the right marketing strategies to meet the needs of customers and the marketplace of this new era.
You see, this new era isn’t built on things like manufacturing or technology. Neither is it born out of deep-seated beliefs such as eradicating greenwashing, the greater activist purpose of slowing/reversing climate change or other various macros issues in geopolitics, colonialism, wealth gap and inequalities. It’s the sum of the parts, turbocharged with the ability for humans to instantly respond, react, incite, trigger, mobilise and engage in the blink of an eye through social platforms. And, while you may think I’m still describing the Relationship Era; this isn’t about building relationships anymore as people are beginning to challenge marketing from ‘a cup half empty’ perspective. And that’s the defining attribute of this new era.
Let’s be clear, I’m not talking about ‘trolling’ (the act of deliberately being offensive or provocative) as this is a top-of-the-funnel, sticking your head above the parapet, minority few. This new marketing era has been created through fundamental new human behaviours that have consumed the masses through evolving attitudes, societal interactions, and the accepted new cultural norms. So why and how is this linked to marketing and why am I defining it as a new era?
Because marketing is always the catalyst that starts the conversation, the differentiator that determines the outcome, or the failure that draws widespread criticism.
From MAGA being way more emotive than anything the Democrats came up with, to Boris Johnson using buses with the slogan ‘We send the EU £350 Million a Week’ to land his Brexit message, marketing is in part wholly effective at a national/global level.
Or brands that cause outrage when their campaigns completely miss the mark, such as Heinz leaving out a black father from an interracial wedding photo, that Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial, or the ‘Beach Body Ready’ campaign by Protein World. Marketing is in part responsible for fuelling anger and resentment. And hey, you can’t mention outrage without referring to the self-proclaimed ‘anarchists’ over at Brewdog who love trying to rile just about everyone; from consumers shocked to find their cans were not ‘gold-plated’, ASA putting paid to five percent Hard Seltzer adverts claiming to be healthy and, of course, that open letter from ex-employees who were a little peeved about workplace toxic culture.
These examples are the obvious tip of the iceberg – and it’s okay to be reactive to these as they hit you square in the gut. This isn’t a new era of marketing that I’m referring to, this is simply being human. But delve a little deeper and you’ll understand that the biggest shift in human behaviour since the creation of social media in 1997 is that we are now wholeheartedly wired to ‘reject before we accept’. To find fault before we find favour.
To scrutinise, repel, scorn, reject, mock or boycott. This is the new era of marketing I’m underlining. Normal people taking to social media to outright reject marketing at all levels. Friends, family and colleagues all happy to share their thoughts of why it’s not right, unfair, ill-judged, boring, or just plain stupid.
The latest Tesco out-of-home campaign (which replaces its name and logo for images of food items) drew the irk of business professionals on LinkedIn. So too did the new Apple ad which many felt was pitching the company’s AI tools for the dumb and lazy, with one keyboard warrior proclaiming that Apple had shifted their positioning from ‘Think Different’ to ‘Don’t Think’. And, what about the absolute ridicule and mockery of the Jaguar rebrand, turning pretty much everyone I know into a rabid frenzy.
These people aren’t viewed as trolls but regular everyday people adopting these new behaviours as they mimic their wider communities. Because in their mind they are at worst projecting their superiority, or more likely using marketing stimuli to generate their own content and impart influence. In turn, they’re hoping to create a virtuous circle of thought leadership. But, in hindsight, they’re actually fuelling the innocent yet vicious circle of this new marketing era to find rejection in everything.
The biggest attribute to this new marketing era is of course the evolution of social media which, in practicality, should be a voluntary behaviour (one that we can control) but has evolved into an involuntary action that requires little to no thought
And, if we take it a step further, marketing has always fundamentally been about external stimulus that over time could impact the internal thoughts and opinions of audiences and shift their behaviours in your favour. The acceleration of ‘always on’ social media, however, stops the incubation period of your marketing stimulus and therefore the subsequent internalisation of a person’s thoughts and opinions. It allows them to suddenly project back, in the real world, an instantaneous reaction.
So, what does that mean?
I’m convinced it’s not a wonderfully new and positive marketing era we now find ourselves in but one that, in theory, was designed around transparency and accountability, to empower and give voice where previously we went unheard. To shift ownership from Government, Business and Brand back to the people. The reality is that ownership has never been more rooted in the corporate world and the marketing departments that have no ‘plan B’ – beyond churning out content quicker than their competitors.
So, until we hit the pause button, listen more and act less, we’ll continue down a path of repetition just like ants in a death spiral with more and more people finding joy in negativity.
Brett Goldhawk is the founder of DesignHawk
