SLOW BURN MARKETING
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Branding
    • Audio / Video
    • Print
    • Web
    • Collateral Etc.
  • About
    • Blaine Parker
    • Honey Parker
    • Testimonials
  • Services
    • Do You Fit?
  • Stuff
    • Speaking
    • Books
    • Newsletter
  • Story Lab
  • Contact

What Price Nostalgia?

3/16/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Romance, Meet Marketing. And weep.

The action in New Zealand right this minute has little to do with a pandemic, and everything to do with a sickness.

At the moment these words are flowing onto the page, it’s the final day of the 2021 America’s Cup racing in Auckland.

By the time you read this, the America's Cup will belong to either New Zealand (again), or Italy.


You probably don’t care. Most people don’t.

If you’ve seen any of the footage on NBC or the interwebs, you know that it’s all speed, all black, all inscrutable.

When did yacht racing become a sport filled with crash helmets?

The Fabulous Honey Parker asks, "Where are the cup holders?"

Yes, this form of sailboat racing and the boats that race in it look a lot different today than they did in 1851.

Ah, the romance of sailing.


“I don’t like what America’s Cup has become. All the romance is gone!”

I’ve heard people say this. What happened to the romance?

White sails.

Graceful sloops heeling over in the sun as the water does a diamond dappled sparkle in the waters off of Newport.

Strapping young men with suntans grinding winches. Loud, middle-aged men barking orders from the helm.

Smiling, suntanned women handing over trophies and bottles of frothing-over champagne.

Those were the days.

You know what?


Be not fooled. Like advertising, America’s Cup yacht racing has always been about money.

Romance has always been irrelevant.

Today’s space-age yachting war of technology and determination is a place where exotic materials meet systems engineering, and it’s all seasoned with towering black sails, crash helmets, and big-money corporate sponsorships.

It’s a great metaphor for the culture at large.


And yes, the ostensible romance of advertising is also gone.

The good ol’ days of advertising have sailed over the horizon.

We are left slogging through a morass of technology and terminology.

The 21st century digital culture has little to do with writing a message and everything to do with believing that the real message is the delivery system.


“If you’re not marketing on social media, you’re missing the boat!”

I saw a headline like that just this morning. It made me shake my head.

While advertising has never been about romance, it was always easier for the poets to be seen.

Writers were the visible heroes of advertising.

But at the end of the day, it was never about them, either. Advertising was (and will always be) about money.  

It’s just that some romantics in the business think they can raise the bar and make people feel something less crass.


America’s Cup racing is the same way.

The first race in the 1800s was not the product of any romantic notions beyond making money.

A group of six New York millionaires formed a syndicate.

In case you were wondering, “syndicate” is not a word that has any romantic intent.

The millionaires in this syndicate formed it to build a technologically advanced yacht. The six titans of industry involved sat in their offices in New York while a professional crew sailed the yacht to England.

The millionaires later followed as first-class passengers aboard a very comfortable steamship.


Their mission was to win money in yacht races.

These men were gamblers, pure and simple.

It also didn’t work out in their favor. They failed in their mission.

But their effort spawned the multi-billion-dollar madness that now happens every few years in some part of the world not New York or Newport.

The days of white sails with no advertising and the pretense of gentlemanly sportsmanship are over.


Yes, the visual poetry and thematic fabrications are gone.

The game has become such a huge, technology-powered cash vacuum that it requires more sponsor dollars than anyone ever knew existed.

And at the end of the day, then as now, it’s still about people who want to make money.

It has just left any possibilities of sailing romance as we know it behind.


And so it is with advertising.

Sales messages are ubiquitous.

Maybe there’s no hope for bringing back the romance of America’s Cup yachting that never really existed.

There’s also probably no hope of bringing back the romance of the glory days of Madison Avenue, which also never really existed.


But it is possible to remember the one thing that never changes.

Romance is just one of many thematic components that inspire customers to buy.

Maybe romantics like us can push past the ignorance of media chauvinism and aim for the juicy center of the person to whom we’re selling.

Maybe then, we can all feel better about selling better by making people feel better about buying.

And we can all feel like we’re sailing on the wings of a more poetic day of gentle waves and sea breezes with nary a black sail in sight. 
Cheers,

Blaine Parker
Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in Park City
 
LIGHTNING BRANDING ON AMAZON
The Kindle edition of our new book is now available at Amazon for the bargain price of $19.95.
 
For details about our new Lightning Branding courses, both do-it-yourself and we-do-it-with-you editions, click here. (There's even a video of us!)
0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Blaine Parker is prone to ranting about any and all things related to brand. In many ways, he is a professional curmudgeon. While there is no known vaccine for this, the condition is also not contagious. Unless you choose it to be so. 

    Archives

    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All
    Abe Lincoln
    Advertising
    Advertising As Art
    Ad Writing
    Amazon
    Apathy
    Art And Advertising
    Attack Ads
    Authenticity
    Beat Bobby Flay
    Besotted
    Best Ads Of 2017
    Big Ideas
    Billboards
    Bobby Flay
    Book Marketing
    Brand Advertising
    Branding
    Branding Book
    Branding Santa Claus
    Brand Names
    Bud Light
    Budwieser
    Burger King
    Burger King Advertising
    Burning Man
    Burning Questions
    Business Book
    Buy Now
    Car Advertising
    Carefu;-ish
    Careful-ish
    Casablanca
    Christmas
    Commercials
    Commitment
    Communication
    Content
    Core Customer
    Corny
    Corporate Culture
    CoupleCo
    Couplepreneurs
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Crazy Ivan
    Creativity
    Creativity Over Message
    Cult Brands
    Customers
    David Ogilvy
    Dick Orkin
    Diisruptive
    Down Market
    Dr Sam's Eye Care
    Effectivness
    Electronics
    Entrenched
    Exceeding Expectaion
    Facebook Advertising
    Feeling
    Focus
    Focus Grouping
    Fonts
    Food
    Fraud
    Gary Vaynerchuk
    Hair Club For Men
    Hanukkah
    Holidays
    Hotels
    Hugo Boss
    Hurricane Relief
    Ideas
    Influence
    Inspiration
    Internet Radio
    Jeep
    Jerry Lewis
    Johnnie Walker
    Jungles
    Krylon Spray Paint
    Lawyers
    Lightning Branding
    Logos
    Lulu Lemon
    Mackerel
    Make Customers Care
    Marketing
    Masks
    Meaning
    Media
    Medical Tourism
    Membership
    Me Too
    Millennials
    Milton Glaser
    Must See TV
    Napa
    Nastalgia
    New Clients
    New Skills
    New Years
    Nicaragua
    Niche Brands
    Offers
    Ogilvy On Advertising
    Outdoor
    Pasta
    Patriotism
    Pen & Paper
    Personal Brand
    Pizza
    Podcasts
    Poetry
    Point Of Purchase
    Political Advertising
    Political Correctness
    Price Advertising
    Pringles
    Procrastination
    Product Experience
    Publicity Stunts
    Punctuation
    Puppy Monkey Baby
    Radio
    Reader Question
    Reality TV
    Relationship Marketing
    Repeat Customers
    Research
    Rhode Island Tourism
    Road Trip
    Romance
    Rosser Reeves
    Sailing
    Sales Staff Writing Radio
    SEO
    Small Business
    Small Business Branding
    SnapChat
    Social Media
    Social Media Marketing
    State Farm
    Story
    Struggling
    Subaru
    Super
    Superbowl
    Super Bowl Ads
    Sushi
    Sy Sperlling
    Taglines
    Thanksgiving
    The Big Short
    Trademarks
    USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
    Vail
    Velcro
    Vernacular
    Vocabulary
    Wine
    Words Good
    Writing
    Writing Advertising
    Zeitgeist

    RSS Feed

OFFERING:
Branding & Marketing
Speaking
Books
Newsletter


INFO:
Services Breakdown
​
Clients
About
Testimonials
Contact
STORY LAB
Picture
​
​
© Copyright 2020 Slow Burn Marketing LLC
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Picture
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Branding
    • Audio / Video
    • Print
    • Web
    • Collateral Etc.
  • About
    • Blaine Parker
    • Honey Parker
    • Testimonials
  • Services
    • Do You Fit?
  • Stuff
    • Speaking
    • Books
    • Newsletter
  • Story Lab
  • Contact