by DK Badenhorst (@BrandCultureSA) Tapping into little pockets of pop culture is a tricky and fascinating business. If the goal is to create culturally interesting advertising or any mainstream piece of communication, it’s even trickier. You need to find something that is relatively niche but still recognisable (Red Bull films). If you don’t, you end up with people not knowing what they’re looking at (SquareSpace’s Jeff Bridges ad).
Red Bull’s always been great at tapping into niche subcultures and finding a balance between what is fresh yet familiar. A few examples of what has worked in the past are extreme downhill biking, base jumping and those flying-squirrel suits that people use to glide with these days.
The second point is simply that the sports used are impressive. Whether you’re an extreme cyclist or not, it remains impressive to see a guy descend the mountains of the Utah desert on a frame with two wheels bolted to it. Sure, there’s a little more to those bicycles, but that is exactly the point. You don’t need to know that much about cycling.
So where is an example of a brand which gets it wrong?
In recent times, the phenomenon of ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) has found traction on YouTube, and has subsequently spilled out onto other websites discussing the phenomenon or trying to put some money and talent together to research the topic.
Deeply mundane
ASMR leaves the listener with a strange sensation described as the one some people get when they receive a massage — a tingling that starts in the base of the neck and runs down the spine and sometimes into the extremities. This highly relaxing sensation is an end in itself and stands, to an extent, separate from the content of the video. This should explain the deeply mundane content of some of the videos.
In the broadest sense, ASMR videos include (but are not limited to) role-playing videos where people perform everyday services (cutting hair, shaving, eye tests and so on). The key here is the personal attention, the simple instructions and the praise that comes with it. The ASMR-tist is always friendly, interested and agreeable; in all cases, they are also people who don’t pose any threat.
The ASMR community has been well aware of the Squarespace commercial and its reference to their art but this has not really translated into awareness of the ad. There appears to be a cultural gap. People like hearing The Dude, others like the seemingly random nature of the video, but the true significance is missed.
Unlike extreme downhill MTB, there is no breadcrumb trail back to mainstream culture. Extreme downhill holds hands with downhill, which holds hands with cross country, which holds hand with simple recreation which holds hands with commuting. It anchors deeply into boring and functional mainstream. It’s also easy to trace mountain biking back to when commuter bikes were simply welded and reinforced in order to make them adequate for the job at hand. We can all relate to it.
Something else
ASMR, however, is something else. These videos appeal not to a response in culture but to a neurophysiological phenomenon. What is more is that the ASMR community alleges that not all people can experience ASMR and that you either have it or you don’t — almost like being able to twist your tongue. Yes, as a stress relief, it may have become popular in stressful times but its roots are not in mainstream culture.
At no point does Wieden+Kennedy say anything about the growing internet phenomenon. Yes, the commercial is obviously ASMR inspired. It is, however, interesting to note what people are saying.
People recognise The Dude. His original character is close enough to be plausibly connected. The internet is a strange place and, between the internet and the weirdness of The Dude, this video may gain cultural meaning without any knowledge of ASMR. Some even call it ‘the funniest Super Bowl ad ever’.
Counter culture
Without the background of ASMR, it seems to find its roots in counter culture, which might be what the creators thought when they stumbled upon the original ASMR videos.
In the absence of a proper description, people fill in the gaps. They take cultural objects and mix and match meaning until they make enough sense — at least so there’s no cultural-meaning vacuum. This in itself is interesting and proves a point that I very often make when talking about brands.
The best and clearest example is always the cargo cult with its best-known example of John Frum. These religions cropped up when American troops moved through isolated communities, bringing with them many artefacts of modernity. The arrival of the soldiers had no cultural ties and people created them by matching them to religion. John Frum is arguably a mispronunciation of John From (America).
To this day, cargo cults are alive and well, having socio-political impacts upon the nations in which they are active. Temples and religious symbols are based on planes, transport and military equipment, mirroring the obvious symbols that accompanied Frum.
Cultural relevance
No matter what your product or your brand, if you’ve been in a market for a certain period of time, you have a cultural relevance. Like fish that inhabit shipwrecks, so cultural significance inhabits anything that settles for long enough. Whether the meaning that settles is what you would want it to be is a different question altogether and is, without exception, something that may be steered and managed.
Culture is dynamic and the problem is never what you are but rather what you’re becoming.
DK Badenhorst (@BrandCultureSA) is a cultural insight and semiotics consultant who brings cultural context and long-term trend insights to brand communication. He contributes the monthly “Brand Culture” column, exploring the value and meaning interaction between brands and society, to MarkLives.com.
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