Lesson from a Hipster Brand Mogul
This from Gavin McInnes, co-founder of Vice Magazine:
Gavin: I just realized I did an interview with brandchannel and didn’t really mention branding. One thing about “brand building.” I never want to hear those two words again. I always hated the idea of someone building a brand. It sounds so affected. Like marketing companies and “Cool Hunters” sending CDs and shit to “tastemakers.” People can smell that bullshit from a mile away. Just be yourself. Pinky and I are old and Canadian and not very attractive but we are the faces of the company because that’s who we are. Anything else would be a lie. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people marketing works. It doesn’t. People only buy what their friends tell them they should buy because that’s the only thing left they can trust.
The internet really gave this idea a boost. It made the idea of a meritocracy a plausible business model. You can spend all the money you want on print and TV ads and even get editorials written about your product but it won’t make one iota of difference. Nobody’s going to buy what someone else tells them to unless that person is their good friend. End of story.
Word, Mr. McInnes, word.
[via brandchannel. full story here]
