Wednesday Morning Rant

Activists always look for any opportunity to push the message and promote the cause. Marketing departments across the land - across several lands - are packed to the rafters with activists, and they never fail to create opportunities to promote their ideals. Things that have (and should have) nothing to do with politics or social movements are nonetheless shackled to them to serve as vehicles for activist ambition. From razor blades to beer to sports to underwear, wokism is ever-present.

Some of these - like Victoria's Secret - are examples of "go broke, get woke." When the business isn't in good shape, go for the wokism to make some waves. Some of them are more like Gillette or AB-InBev, where a reasonably healthy business loses its mind and goes all-in on divisive politics. The big names are big, but the same problem is literally everywhere. This ad is a few months old, but it only entered rotation on my TV set recently:

This is an ad for a bluetooth speaker made by Marshall, not that it's in any way obvious. At first, this looks like an ad for body-positivity activism (What's particularly funny is that she apparently isn't primarily a "body postivity" activist, but a "shade-inclusivity" beauty products activist.). The ad says nothing about the product. They don't tell you that it's $300. They don't tell you that it's water and dust resistant. They don't tell you that it has four speaker drivers. They don't tell you the product's name (apparently, it's "Middleton") and while they show the logo throughout, they don't bother to even say the name of the company. It leaves with you a vague impression that it's for speakers, but doesn't go out of its way to make the point.

The short-form ad (the YouTube preroll ad version) is even worse. It's just the activist woman and it truly leaves you guessing. If I didn't already know what Marshall is, I would have no clue that the ad was for a speaker. Even setting aside the distastefulness of activism-based marketing, this is a failure of an advertisement.

So-called "lifestyle" marketing is nothing new and this is actually a prime example of it. The print copy could have come from any point in the modern era:

For over 60 years, Marshall has shown that Rock 'n' roll is more than just a genre, it is a state of mind. To celebrate the launch of Middleton, we've partnered with four cultural pioneers to amplify their voices and celebrate their unique stories. Constant travelling, online noise, burnout and unwanted looks are part of their daily lives. And how they deal with it has made them who they are.

Meet Seb Murphy, Sophi St. Louis, Efron Danzig, and David Yang. Follow the story.

15 years ago, an ad agency that pitched to executives, "let's have a frenetic visual mess that relates nothing about the product, the company or the Rock 'N Roll Rebel lifestyle, but be sure to put an activist in it at both the start and finish of the ad" would have been fired. Now, they aren't. Now, it's normal. Now you get kicked out of the room if you don't do it.

The first company to kick out the activists and reconquer the marketing department is going to get a whole lot of market differentiation for free.

posted by Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

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