Reflecting Society to Make an Emotional Connection Businesses, not for profit organizations, and government leaders, to name just a few types of marketers, are wise to study popular music for a very important reason. Popular music often predicts changes in mainstream culture well before mainstream culture recognizes the change. In the 1960s, when mainstream America and the political leadership were still supportive of the Vietnam War, they could have detected the winds of change by paying attention to the music of Peter, Paul, and Mary; the Kingston Trio; Bob Dylan; and others.

Madonna was a leading indicator and reflector of changing sexual mores in the 1980s and continues to be on the cutting edge today (see Chapter 7). From Cat Stevens to rapper Jay Z, music changes as society changes-reflecting changes in people’s lifestyles and moods.

Winning marketers monitor changes in the culture and its music and reflect them in their brands. Why? Because problems arise from life, and firms that address top of the mind issues by developing solutions to perceived problems-and do it well-are rewarded with robust sales, brand loyalty, and willingness to pay premium prices even in difficult markets.

Lifestyle trends affect a myriad of marketing strategies and tactics, including product design, positioning, packaging, advertising, and distribution. Witness Campbell’s recent introduction of soups that come in heat and drink cups, designed specifically for people who don’t have time to eat anything requiring a table or utensils. Similarly, a recent ad for Tide laundry detergent focuses on a single mother getting ready for a date, dressed in a freshly washed sweater and armed with dating advice from her teenage daughter-a far cry from June Cleaver themes of the past. Typically, brands are analyzed from the perspective of products-either consumer or industrial-and services ranging from financial institutions to health care systems. Most books on branding, including this one, reflect this emphasis. The nature of brands and winning strategies that make them culturally relevant is more comprehensive, however, recognizing an increasing importance to develop culturally relevant brands for retail organizations, for professional persons, and ultimately, for the most important brand of all-the brand called You.

How do your brands fare? How prevalent are they in the snapshots that define your customers’ lives and fit their consumption patterns? Your brand helps establish a relationship-an emotional connection-with consumers and society for your product or organization.

One of the valuable lessons rock and roll offers people involved in marketing and branding is how it evolved from its ethnic roots to become part of mainstream America, spotlighting what it takes for innovations, products, and brands to become accepted by an entire culture. Analyzing this process in the most successful legendary bands discloses that to achieve cultural adoption, a band (or brand) should have relevance to people in a culture, represent a culture, and have influence on a culture.

It’s Only Rock and Roll But I Like It If you think rock and roll burst onto the scene with the introduction of Bill Haley and the Comets, you are a few decades late and a few shades too white. Rock and roll evolved from what was known during the 1940s and 1950s as rhythm and blues (R&B). It had roots up and down the Mississippi River, starting from New Orleans and Memphis, traveling north to Chicago, and fanning out in both directions to clubs in cities such as Kansas City and Detroit. R&B was ingrained in the African American culture, with songs reflecting the lifestyles and blues culture of that community.

What was often described as “race music” by the predominantly white, mainstream musical culture of the 1950s eventually became rock and roll, a well understood slang term in the black culture for making love or simply having sex. Although Trixie Smith, a famous blues singer, had recorded the song “My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)” years earlier, the meaning of rock and roll remained relatively unknown in the majority culture, except among a few progressive white disc jockeys (DJs) and music fans. In an era when radio stations still received albums from record companies with such tracks as “Makin’ Whoopee” marked “Not for air play,” it was probably better to keep the sexual meaning of the name from traditionalists- namely parents, advertisers, and station managers.