The dark side of brands
In the future, will we see the emergence of brands with a darker side? Brands that succeed by making people feel uncomfortable; are mysterious yet exciting; are uncompromising in their convictions and don’t try to be nice to everyone.
Historically, 99% of successful brands have built relationships with customers through positive, warm and engaging communications and experiences. This is all very well but it doesn’t reflect the full spectrum of emotions humans feel or want to experience.
For example, within the world of entertainment we pay more to experience films that engage a broader range of emotions, the positive and the negative, the lighter side and the darker side of ourselves. We don’t pay as much to see the simply positive, warm and light-hearted films. The worldwide top ten grossing films of all time include Avatar, The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings, The Phantom Menace and the Harry Potter franchise. Not one romantic comedy to be seen (Mamma Mia comes in at no 49). A similar argument could be made for books. Whilst Barbara Cartland’s romances have sold well, Dan Brown’s psychological thrillers of good and evil have combined sales second only to The Bible. And what of TV shows and music? The list would go on.
Humans thrive on feeling a full spectrum of emotions, experienced through life’s relationships, work, current affairs and entertainment. So why are we not also experiencing a broader range of emotions through the brands we engage with and the products and services we buy? Why do we only engage with brands within positive emotional parameters?
Will we see brands engaging our broader range of emotions and feelings in future? Is there an opportunity for some brands to be dark and mysterious, to be ruthless and unforgiving? Or are we still not ready for these experiences to be delivered by brands? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime I’d like to leave you with one example of a brand I believe does have a darker side.
The McLaren brand. Employees whisper in the secret, state-of-the-art headquarters hidden within the countryside of Surrey, England. It’s like something out of a Bond movie. The corporate mantra is to be the best at whatever they decide to do. The culture is to kill the competition, where ‘second place’ is viewed as first place for losers.
Their uncompromising and unforgiving approach to whatever they set out to do is legendary, be it Formula 1, composite technology or supercar manufacturing. McLaren acts more like a movement than a brand. You are either in or you are not, there is no in-between. It is a brand with a dark side that doesn’t set out to engage the masses, yet the masses engage with McLaren because of its brand.
If you have experienced any other brands that truly engage our broader spectrum of emotions, the positive and the negative, the light and the dark, I’d be pleased to hear from you.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Great post! I couldn’t agree with you more. We can even look to Harley-Davidson that has leveraged its “rebel” personality for years! It’s a brand that mixes light and dark together quite nicely. Rebel paired with freedom of the open road!
A few weeks ago, on my blog, I wrote about Tiger Woods, what used to be the golden boy of golf! I think the damage is done and there is an opportunity for Tiger to reposition and be consistent with who he is at the heart. He should forget about being the perfect poster child and take on an edgier personality. He can’t afford to trick the public again! Why not become the first bad boy of golf!
March 10th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Love the idea about re-positioning Tiger. A real life ‘Happy Gilmore’. I’m off to contact his agent…
As for Harley, great example, thanks. All the midlife men, donning the shades and buying into that bad boy image… Their use of bike week in Daytona every year and the HOG owners group help concrete this image for the brand.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Really interesting post, Piers.
Picking up on Nicole’s Tiger example, I can think of plenty of people in the sporting world who (consciously or unconsciously) have built their brands around this ‘dark side’ - perhaps the best example being Vinnie Jones, who’s even managed to extend his ‘bad boy’ brand to a career on the silver screen - and without most audiences having a clue where that all started as the hatchet-man for Wimbledon FC!
Struggling to think of too many business people or corporates who’ve made a virtue of it though, beyond those with a relatively niche appeal.
The thing is that - whilst the entertainment world may offer us the opportunity to explore and indulge in the darker side of our human nature - I suspect that the essence of that attraction lies in the fact that it does so in an escapist way, that we can view or listen to from the comfort and safety of an armchair.
In that realm, we feel free to revel in behaviours and emotions that would scare the bejesus out of us in the real world!
March 18th, 2010 at 2:44 am
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March 31st, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Thanks Piers - your thinking resonated with me as I’m attracted to exactly the examples you provided. I just wonder if mainstream brands will swallow this pill from Whole Foods, Tiger, American Express, Toyota. I can see some amazing creative campaigns coming out of this that would really make me laugh. But I just can’t see the CMO of x company doing this. Saying that, someone brave may see the light. Thanks for this. Good food for thought.
Jim