Wash your hands; not your brands

Is this going to be the year of transmission?

There is a great scene at the end of the film Contagion where we see the bat bite a piece of fruit, the pig eat the fruit and the pork then being served to an unsuspecting Gwyneth Paltrow. The contagion begins. This is how viruses are transmitted, they ’jump species’ from bats bunched in a cave to the centre of your brunch plate. You didn’t have to be there when the transmission happened in Hong Kong to end up ultimately feeling its effects in Hobart. Much like the turn of the century was the point at which technology finally crossed over into mainstream, 9-11 injected terror into the everyday, and 2012 was the year when natural disaster was etched into our collective conscious, 2020 may well turn into the year of transmission. 

What we see informs what we do

Just as there is viral transmission of diseases, so too is there cultural transmission, the anthropological theory that throughout our lives we spread and acquire knowledge simply by existing in our culture. We are continually shaped simply through exposure to our environment’s themes and trends.

With COVID-19, there are already certain ideas and beliefs that are spreading faster than the actual disease through society. Already ‘face-masking’ has gone from something you did while sanding a floor to something you do popping out for a sandwich. What is next? Is the newly coined ‘social distancing’ akin to ‘see something, say something’ from the incorporation of terrorism into the everyday? Is the revived consumer thrill of scarcity driving people to secure a year’s worth of bum wipe and hand sanitiser this year’s signal of preparedness much like how yoga pants symbolised wellbeing in the early 2000s? All perhaps interesting but the real question is why are people acting so bat@#$! crazy? The answer is cultural transmission. 

How brands act as signals

The only real definition of a brand occurred well before we as consultants got involved. The Vikings nailed it when they said a brand was a mark of ownership unique to the owner. The basis of any brand is simple. It takes two different things. You position once to be noticed as distinctive and you create visual codes that help you own the space. Most good brands pass this test, but the great ones go one step further. They participate in cultural transmission through acting as a signal. Brands pull their positioning from human needs and motivations, but pull all of their communication power from meeting the culture of the day. What separates a good brand from a great brand is its ability to align brand image to changing norms. 

We were asked recently to comment as a brand agency on the demise of Holden (link to article at end). Our view is that they tried but ultimately failed to adjust their brand image from being irrelevant to being relevant. And at the end of the day relevancy spreads because it captures a moment in time. Gillette famously got it wrong when they inadvertently reinforced male privilege. Nike famously got it right by interpreting its position for all athletes through the lens of Kapernick, the excluded one.

What does the demise of an average car company have to do with a pandemic?

Brands transmit ideas every day. Ideas which either spread because they're relevant signals or fall flat as a result of shifting culture norms. With COVID-19, it is already happening. Brands will do well to stay abreast of how our values, norms and behaviours change and make sure they are aligned with these changes.

Will mass party scenes that form the basis of so much advertising from wine to weekends away shift if we can no longer gather in large groups? Will staying at home become the new going out? Will shaking someone’s hand move from a signal of confidence to a cultural taboo? Will minimalism finally die when we have nowhere to store our bum roll but the lounge room? Will bigger themes emerge from possible outcomes like closed borders in a free trade world?

We are about to find out…but the trick is to keep reading the signals of what is changing in our culture while remaining true to what you are as a brand. 

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Be better to each other.