carson smith’s blog

If there’s one quintessential symbol of masculinity in America, it’s the cowboy. Steady, sure, tough, a bit gruff rough, he is a powerful cultural archetype — and brand. From selling millions of cigarettes, country songs, and SUVs to electing at least two presidents, his selling power cannot be underestimated. But is the love affair over?

America’s obsession with the cowboy as a masculine ideal has been waning for some time. Let’s mark a few of the mile stones:

• The Marlboro Man dies of lung cancer.

  Under the reign of a cowboy-branded president, America is lead into a foreign policy nightmare and an economic depression.

  A film comes out about gay cowboys and is widely accepted.

The cowboy’s image has transformed from one of venerated idol of male strength to a fraud, or impostor of sorts. But it’s more than the cowboy. It’s the broader brand — the American masculine ideal. And it is fading. This is a huge cultural paradigm shift.

Enter Obama, the Anti-Cowboy

As the child of a single mother and an absent father, Obama is a fitting symbol of a post-masculine society. In a column last year, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd emphasized the contrast between Obama and the cowboy: “Obama proved that he was not a cowboy in overdrive like W. when he demurred at throwing a spiral because his pass might not be as good as the Longhorn stars’.” What about Hillary, you might ask?

In her column, Dowd argued that “Hillary was so busy trying to prove she could be one of the boys .. that she only belatedly realized that many Democratic and independent voters, especially women, were eager to move from hard-power locker-room tactics to a soft-power sewing circle approach.”

As the Obama/Hillary example illustrates, the male vs. female dichotomy less central then the actual expression characteristics of masculine vs. feminine. It is not so much that masculinity is going away – it is that femininity has become the more dominant cultural force.

Implications for brands

The recent TV series Mad Men aptly characterized the male-centric world that gave birth to the advertising industry. The legendary Leo Burnett is one of the most influential of these agencies, having shaped many of the brands that you grew up with. In addition to the hyper-masculine Marlboro Man, they have developed other male-centric figures including “Charlie the Tuna”, “Pillsbury Doughboy”, 7UP’s “Spot”, and Tony the tiger.

But even more important than the fact these brands symbols are of male gender, is the masculine way they are communicated. Their top-down, one-way approach of talking to consumers is very much a masculine “don’t-talk-back-to-me” style. The feminine approach, by contrast, is not about telling, it’s about conversation.

The rise of social, cause-centric, conversation-based media

The green movement, social media, good-cause marketing are all central to the feminization of brands. Tending to be feeling-centric, brands are now asking you to chat with them on platforms ranging from Facebook to Twitter. In the masculine world of brands, this would have been unheard of. As technology gives greater voice to the average citizen, it allows us to communicate more collectively. And it’s the feminine conversation ability that is emerging as most effective way to navigate in the world.

Now we see once exclusively macho brands are now exploring their feminine side. Look at this General Motors magazine ad from the 1970s, emphasizing the truck’s inner strength and robustness. Nothing could be more macho.

Now take a look at a recent online ad. Instead of emphasizing its source of power, this ad does the opposite. It says we use less power. And we are friendly. The feminine curling leaves invite the viewer into an entirely different brand experience.

The cowboy has faded into the sunset. But don’t count him out. Culture ebbs and flows. Brands that focus on the underling archetypal themes, both dormant and expressed, rather than the popular flavors of the day, will enjoy the greatest long-term success.

Orange farmers can’t be happy. Tropicana’s celebrated “Squeeze” rebranding campaign – entailing a complete package redesign and massive national ad campaign – sent sales sailing down 20% between January and February, according to Ad Age.

“No dots to connect here,” a company spokeswoman told the advertising trade magazine when asked about the correlation between the rebrand and drop in sales. Never mind the fact that Tropicana swiftly reintroduced the old packaging last month. In stores now, new vs. the new old:

Let me connect the dots that their dotty PR department can’t seem to find:

Unlike milk, orange juice is one of those grocery items that consumers can be a bit more discerning towards. We’ve all had that watered-down generic juice. Yuck. Over the years, brands have built success by taking advantage of the disparity in quality to emphasize taste, freshness, and added-value benefits like vitamins and calcium. To get some perspective, let’s take a look at the history of orange juice ads:

Sunkist’s “Drink an orange” campaign sent sales souring when introduced to thirsty Jazz Age families. While influencing consumers may have been easier back then, it’s hard to argue with the 300% revenue growth Sunkist experienced. Albert D. Lasker’s now famous campaign was all about the orange, not the murky pale yellowy liquid in the glass. And consumers ate it up.

Ever since the Sunkist success, advertisers have emphasized the bright, fresh, ripe orange – while putting that pale yellowy liquid or concentrate further behind the scenes. The following is an undated industry promotion ad, making the connection as literal as it could possibly — nothing can get between you, and the orange:

Modern orange juice advertising has changed little in its approach. With increased competition between major multinational corporations, the positioning strategies have tended to focus more and more on that orange. It’s about whoever has the freshest, most healthy, and natural orange to offer. Florida Natural’s positioning literally positions the product as part and parcel of the orange grove itself:

Tropicana has traditionally maintained a similar approach, their ads and packaging emphasizing the same old orange. You’re literally drinking the juice right out of the fruit:

Understandably, the good folks at Tropicana may have been getting a little tired of the same old orange every year. So they did something about it. They hired by “renowned” branding guru Peter Arnell to completely reinvent the nature of orange juice advertising.

Enter “Squeeze”

“It’s time to remind consumers that Tropicana Pure Premium is pure, natural and squeezed from fresh oranges,” said Peter Arnell in their campaign press release. So far this sounds like the same old same old. But he goes on: “In order to reinforce this message, we focused on the health benefits of the juice but showed it in a more emotional way than ever before in this category. We want to remind consumers how it should feel to drink this juice every morning.”

In other words, Mr. Arnell decided to put the orange in the back seat. And the ads – which have been widely praised within the industry for their “boldness” – do exactly this. No oranges to be found. Instead, we see parents literally squeezing their kids – feel good photography emphasizing the campaign’s operative word: emotions.

The ads are certainly pleasing to the eye. I can’t find anything particularly unappealing about them – nothing noteworthy enough to drive sales down 20%. But this is part of the lesson: the advertising campaign did absolutely nothing to increase consumer interest in the “emotional brand experience.” While the images themselves probably did not turn people off, they didn’t make any connections to the product. Here’s is what you found in the grocery isle:

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The product on the shelf is emotionless, almost generic. It has a cold, detached feel that in no way correlates to the happy families pictured in the ads. But the most egregious error has nothing to do with the happy families – they are really just as superfluous as the whole ad campaign itself.

It is about the orange.

Indeed, the rebranded package does say “100% orange.” But what kind of orange?! “100% orange” is printed atop that murky pale liquid that orange juice advertisers have tried to avoid for almost a century. To the average shopper, it is nothing more than a color. In their attempt to imbue the word “orange” with an emotionally branded meaning, Tropicana successfully disconnected it from the fruit that bares its name.

Lessons learned:

• Ad campaigns are ineffective if not directly attached to the product itself.
• There must be a clear connection between the product and the “brand experience.”
• Prestigious ad agencies and brand experts sometimes know less than the average consumer.