November 24, 2004
the lovemarks-cluetrain deathmatch
"The Lovemarks-Cluetrain Deathmatch":
I posted the following comment recently on Johnnie Moore's weblog:
Kevin Roberts [of "Lovemarks" fame] is just a guy trying to make a buck, same as the rest of us.What's happening on Madison Avenue is lots of people scrambling around, trying to find new, useful ways to justify their high fees.
And they are failing. Which explains why so many good people from that industry are now on the street.
Kevin's is a gallant effort, better than most, but still, I don't buy it.
The reason I don't buy it is simple: Lovemarks is just a sweetened, cutey-pie metaphor to justify his company's and industry's behavior. But the basic behavior, the basic biz model remains fundementally unchanged.
Johnnie had made a few nice points about Lovemarks:
I don't think Lovemarks presents a vision of the future beyond brands. In some ways, it epitomises what I dislike about branding practice: too much promise, not enough coherence. I despair of many of the examples used; surely we as a species can do better things with our time than pretend that Cheerios are an efficient way to improve parenting?Also in the comments, Earl makes a wonderful point:
The day marketing gets on the Cluetrain is the day it will vanish.So we have two basic camps battling for the future soul of business: Lovemarks and Cluetrain.
So which camp are you betting on? Perhaps you don't think taking sides is necessary? Perhaps you think there's a "Third Way", a solution that borrows the best of both worlds? Y'know, something kinda sorta cutting-edge and kinda sorta Cluetrain-savvy that still manages to afford your company's iMacs, Aeron Chairs and pert, young receptionists? You could call it the "Lovetrain" or whatever. Heh.
Still, it may already be too late for many of us. Like I've said before, people like watching dinosaurs die.
[TASTE AND COMPARE:] This is a Lovemark. This is Cluetrain. Any questions?
[RANDOM:] Just added this old post to The Hughtrain:
NOTE TO SELF:[NB:] Why I think "Branding Is Dead". Posted by hugh macleod at November 24, 2004 8:46 PM | TrackBackYour job is no longer about selling. Your job is about firing off as many synapses in your client’s brain as possible.
The more synapses that are fired off, the more dopamines are released. Dopamines are seriously addictive. The more dopamines you release, the more the client will come back for more. Your client thinks he is coming back to you for sane, rational, value-driven reasons. He is wrong. He is coming back to feed.
Let’s don’t forget one of the points in the Cluetrain: fragmentation of the markets. There will be people who buy on branding ideas and those who’re sick of it.
Branding is alive and kicking for the first and dead for the latter (rather limited group of cluenatics like you and me). First type of market is eating everything what’s shoved into them. They are happy to consume reality shows, pop culture as well as associated commercials commercials.
As much as we want to see more people getting on the Cluetrain it would mean the end (or big change) of consumer market system, which is the basis of the western economy.
I might be wrong of course :)
Posted by: Leonid at November 25, 2004 4:00 PMAnd you may not be wrong, Leonid.
In which case, Junior Art Directors aspiring for high-paying advertising Creative Director jobs in advertising will one day be praising your name.
;-)
Posted by: hugh macleod at November 25, 2004 4:10 PMhope my name will be prased for something elese ;)
Posted by: Leonid at November 25, 2004 4:49 PMHmm, I'm getting a shadow conversation alert on my PC. It's fine to speculate about what other people will do but it can also lead us into feeling fatalistic... who knows what people out there will respond do, but if we keep repeating predictions that they will only buy rubbish, we discourage ourselves and others from trying to do better
Posted by: Johnnie Moore at November 25, 2004 8:48 PM"First type of market is eating everything what’s shoved into them. They are happy to consume reality shows, pop culture as well as associated commercials commercials."
I disagree. If people just consumed what was given to them, nobody in marketing would have to work again. We'd be too busy drinking Tequila Sunrises on our yachts.
Posted by: hugh macleod at November 25, 2004 9:16 PMHugh: "If people just consumed what was given to them, nobody in marketing would have to work again."
Marketing folks should still work hard to serve this type of market (#1 above). :)
I exaggerated it of course - there are no black and white markets but all shades and hues. What I'm trying to say is that there is a whole spectrum of people with different cultural, social and economical backgrounds. Many of them (and I believe majority) are still eating what media is feeding them (commercials and politics). Not because they don't have an access to the web but because they aren't used to think independently.
Even less are getting Gonzo. This word associated rather with porno than "Fear and Loathing". :)
Anyway, I figured out for myself that instead of trying to explain the Cluetrain ideas to others I'd rather develop a system where these ideas work like a charm and business have to adjust to the new marketing realities.
I culled and blogged LovemarksV2.0 ..
http://peterdawson.typepad.com/blog/2004/11/lovemarksv20.html
I am hoping that someone does a writeup on this !!
Posted by: /pd at November 30, 2004 1:33 AMI got Lovemarks AND Clown Suits!
http://theheadlemur.typepad.com/ravinglunacy/2004/11/the_clown_suit_.html
heh....