b i o n i c
11-02-2006, 03:07 PM
Beastie Boys Introduced Marketing Authenticity
By: Will Mannen - Issue date: 10/31/06 Section: Opinions
Check this out: marketing and the Beastie Boys go really, really well together. It's even hard to say which one's the peanut butter and which one's the jelly. Maybe they both are.
For real, just imagine MCA, Mix Master Mike, Ad-Rock, and Mike D back in the day, bringin' home that slammed-out jam. They definitely could have taught us a few marketing tips (before they went mellow). But how?
It starts with style, since quality doesn't matter. The Boys had some massive tricks up their sleeves, like readily accessible lyrics. Even today, you always know exactly when it's time to party hard, and/or when it's time to hear about brass monkeys.
They were also pretty self-deprecating. People don't realize that their declared "Right to Party," was actually a euphemism for their "Right to Suck." Now, look, I'm the last person in the world who wants to down on them -- this in fact points to their transcending genius.
The Beasties were wicked for one big reason: they knew they were sub-par, and they didn't care. It even made them better. They went so far as to exploit it because they were just way too cool for skill.
This caused an enormous about-face in the music industry. Sure, maybe Tom Jones had a monster voice. Maybe Earth, Wind, and Fire knew how to get down with the disco lights like it was nobody's business. But the Beasties owned the revolution of prime time badness.
And all those punks from the '80s completely fell for it. Now they could support a group that opposed society's unjust promotion of talent. You know you can easily see them in their denim and leather, saying, "Dude, slam that Beastie mix tape! It's so nasty!" "Definitely - but wait, Knight Rider starts in two." You get the picture.
So instead of being just another bottle of diet Surge, the Boys became seventeenth-century pirate ale. They adopted a whole new staple. Nothing could have been more authentic than that Beastie juggernaut. And that's why they embody the best qualities for corporate marketing. They were GENUINE, bold, and, all the while, not that great
Just look at their imposters. Among them: Vanilla Ice. Okay, I'm also the last person in the world who wants to down on Vinny. And, to be sure, wherever he's flippin' pancakes these days, you know it's a real nice, gourmet-like place. Even so, let's be real. While the Beastie Boys triumphed at being bad, Vinny I. failed at being good.
Why? Here's a hint: there's something about mixing Ninja Turtles with dancing that's just too good to be true. You can tell it's contrived. When you look back at his videos, you don't think, "Wow, he's making no effort. That's rad." No, you think, "Nice do. Oh, and how glad am I that I was only in kindergarten in the early '90s?"
The Beastie Boys wouldn't have been caught dead break-dancing with Leonardo or Michelangelo. They stuck to their guns, a.k.a screaming and sounding obnoxious. And we are all proud of them for it.
Why is any of this relevant today? Because marketers need to get off the celeb gimmick thing and come back to the real-deal Beastie Way.
Michael Strahan's great, but there's no chance someone's going to buy deodorant just by looking at his stinky pits. Instead, brand an image or ad that's distinct, as well as natural to the product. Clutch advertiser David Ogilvy knows a little bit about this. He did the ad that showed the Saab driving through the snow, with the famous line: "The car for winter."
Everyone knows, of course, that a Saab has nothing to with winter, even if it is made in Sweden. In fact, if you actually try to drive one across the tundra, Laplanders, Eskimos, and Russian sub commanders will all laugh at you. But the ad still hit that Beastie Way authenticity. Ogilvy brought home the bacon.
So when we Bantams are one day running Fortune 500 companies, we've got to keep the Way with us. Now, we can't just completely slack off and think real-deal branding will alone win out. It won't, so we've got to supplement the Way with some mean management.
But the Boys do tell us that outrageous marketing isn't outrageous at all. Remember that when you pop in them melodies.
here (http://www.trinitytripod.com/media/storage/paper520/news/2006/10/31/Opinions/Beastie.Boys.Introduced.Marketing.Authenticity-2412433.shtml?norewrite200611021523&sourcedomain=www.trinitytripod.com)
By: Will Mannen - Issue date: 10/31/06 Section: Opinions
Check this out: marketing and the Beastie Boys go really, really well together. It's even hard to say which one's the peanut butter and which one's the jelly. Maybe they both are.
For real, just imagine MCA, Mix Master Mike, Ad-Rock, and Mike D back in the day, bringin' home that slammed-out jam. They definitely could have taught us a few marketing tips (before they went mellow). But how?
It starts with style, since quality doesn't matter. The Boys had some massive tricks up their sleeves, like readily accessible lyrics. Even today, you always know exactly when it's time to party hard, and/or when it's time to hear about brass monkeys.
They were also pretty self-deprecating. People don't realize that their declared "Right to Party," was actually a euphemism for their "Right to Suck." Now, look, I'm the last person in the world who wants to down on them -- this in fact points to their transcending genius.
The Beasties were wicked for one big reason: they knew they were sub-par, and they didn't care. It even made them better. They went so far as to exploit it because they were just way too cool for skill.
This caused an enormous about-face in the music industry. Sure, maybe Tom Jones had a monster voice. Maybe Earth, Wind, and Fire knew how to get down with the disco lights like it was nobody's business. But the Beasties owned the revolution of prime time badness.
And all those punks from the '80s completely fell for it. Now they could support a group that opposed society's unjust promotion of talent. You know you can easily see them in their denim and leather, saying, "Dude, slam that Beastie mix tape! It's so nasty!" "Definitely - but wait, Knight Rider starts in two." You get the picture.
So instead of being just another bottle of diet Surge, the Boys became seventeenth-century pirate ale. They adopted a whole new staple. Nothing could have been more authentic than that Beastie juggernaut. And that's why they embody the best qualities for corporate marketing. They were GENUINE, bold, and, all the while, not that great
Just look at their imposters. Among them: Vanilla Ice. Okay, I'm also the last person in the world who wants to down on Vinny. And, to be sure, wherever he's flippin' pancakes these days, you know it's a real nice, gourmet-like place. Even so, let's be real. While the Beastie Boys triumphed at being bad, Vinny I. failed at being good.
Why? Here's a hint: there's something about mixing Ninja Turtles with dancing that's just too good to be true. You can tell it's contrived. When you look back at his videos, you don't think, "Wow, he's making no effort. That's rad." No, you think, "Nice do. Oh, and how glad am I that I was only in kindergarten in the early '90s?"
The Beastie Boys wouldn't have been caught dead break-dancing with Leonardo or Michelangelo. They stuck to their guns, a.k.a screaming and sounding obnoxious. And we are all proud of them for it.
Why is any of this relevant today? Because marketers need to get off the celeb gimmick thing and come back to the real-deal Beastie Way.
Michael Strahan's great, but there's no chance someone's going to buy deodorant just by looking at his stinky pits. Instead, brand an image or ad that's distinct, as well as natural to the product. Clutch advertiser David Ogilvy knows a little bit about this. He did the ad that showed the Saab driving through the snow, with the famous line: "The car for winter."
Everyone knows, of course, that a Saab has nothing to with winter, even if it is made in Sweden. In fact, if you actually try to drive one across the tundra, Laplanders, Eskimos, and Russian sub commanders will all laugh at you. But the ad still hit that Beastie Way authenticity. Ogilvy brought home the bacon.
So when we Bantams are one day running Fortune 500 companies, we've got to keep the Way with us. Now, we can't just completely slack off and think real-deal branding will alone win out. It won't, so we've got to supplement the Way with some mean management.
But the Boys do tell us that outrageous marketing isn't outrageous at all. Remember that when you pop in them melodies.
here (http://www.trinitytripod.com/media/storage/paper520/news/2006/10/31/Opinions/Beastie.Boys.Introduced.Marketing.Authenticity-2412433.shtml?norewrite200611021523&sourcedomain=www.trinitytripod.com)