The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Again.

And this time, I’m not going to be going away for …. hmmmmm, actually let’s not go there.

Let’s move on shall we?

So before I start, there’s 2 things to say.

1. Some may have seen this before, because I accidentally put the wrong publish date on it.

2. This is a week of long and – for me – serious posts. So don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The good news is that on Friday, you’ll be rewarded for it, with some news that benefits you as much as it does me.

Kinda.

Maybe.

OK, so one thing that drives me nuts is when brands talk in totally different voices to different audiences.

But there’s something that gets to me more, and that’s when the brand in question has tried to position themselves as some sort of ‘brand of the people’.

Case in point, Reddit …

I really like Reddit.

I think their ‘front-page of the internet’ is a brilliant place to play.

And then I saw this …

‘Where Engagement Meets Results’.

What the fuck is that about?

Oh I know what some will say …

“They’re trying to reach business people who discount Reddit as a commercially valuable platform”.

And maybe they are. But the irony is the easiest way to discount Reddit as a commercially valuable platform is having clients on there who only can communicate in the corporate monotone of the meaningless mission statement.

How insincere is a brand who speaks to their customers one way and business another?

How crazy is it that some think business people are a different species to ‘normal’ people?

How badly will Reddit’s audience react to work from companies who only speak business?

Now some may think I’m going over-the-top … they will remind me that we all ‘change’ our tone and personality dependent on who we are talking to.

And that’s true … to an extent.

But this isn’t a tonal change, this is character.

I read that and it’s a brand I don’t recognise …

Feels more like they should be called Beigeit rather than Reddit.

The ability to adapt your voice to different audiences shouldn’t mean changing who you are.

People who play golf have a dramatically different view to sport than those who play football … but Nike still do it in a way where you know and feel it’s them. Just like CTO’s in major corporations has different requirements to those who want a laptop for home … but you never feel Apple changes who they are to communicate with them.

Brands who fundamentally change their personality in a bid to engage different audiences literally don’t know who they are. Worse, their customers may start to question that too.

Reddit are amazing.

Their audience is diverse, engaged and productive.

And while I appreciate some in business may not understand that, if you have to alter who you are, do you want them anyway?

Years ago I was doing work for Triple J … a government funded, youth radio station in Australia.

Unlike other ‘government funded’ media, Triple J was someone with real credibility, driven by championing and breaking new artists, discussing topics commercial radio wouldn’t touch with a barge pole and absolutely no advertising.

So when they came to us asking for help, we knew straight away that whatever we did had to ensure their current audience didn’t feel Triple J was selling out by advertising for more listeners.

While you may think this meant we went niche, we did the opposite.

Built off an idea we called, ‘enemy of the average’ … we went into mainstream media with messages that challenged audiences about the mediocrity they were engaging with.

Radio.
Newspapers.
Cinema.
Magazines.
Nightclubs.
Television.

Wherever mainstream audiences were, we were there too.

And while many hated our work [it was even discussed in Australian Parliament] it not only attracted the largest audience increase in Triple J’s history, it reinvigorated their existing audience because they saw the brand they love stay true to who they are, despite wanting what they didn’t have.

I get we’re in different times.

I appreciate the idea of any risk is unpalatable for so many.

But nothing is as dangerous as changing who you are to attract people who aren’t your audience.

The brand voice is more than how you talk. Or look. It’s how you look at the world … and if you’re consistent with that, then you can express yourself in a million different ways and always be yourself.

But too many brands, despite what they say, don’t want to be distinct.

They see it as having the potential to alienate an audience.

To which I say this …