{"id":12527,"date":"2010-01-27T09:51:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T09:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress\/we%e2%80%99re-mad-as-hell-and-we%e2%80%99re-not-going-to-take-it-anymore"},"modified":"2010-01-27T09:51:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T09:51:00","slug":"were-mad-as-hell-and-were-not-going-to-take-it-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/blog\/were-mad-as-hell-and-were-not-going-to-take-it-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re Mad As Hell And We\u2019re Not Going to Take It Anymore."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

No matter what your politics, the Massachusetts Senate race illustrates the anger and impatience of American voters \u2013 who also use their wallets to vote for products and services every day.As the Peter Finch character in \u201cNetwork\u201d implored, Bay Staters did the equivalent of going to their windows and shouting, \u201cWe\u2019re mad as hell and we\u2019re not going to take it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election of Scott Brown is the equivalent of a loyal American Airlines frequent flier with two million lifetime miles abruptly deciding to fly \u201cNo-Name Airlines\u201d or a life-long Coke user switching to \u201cBob\u2019s Good-Cola.\u201dFifty years of history and brand loyalty undone in a matter of months with a move from the Kennedy brand and all it represents to the people of Massachusetts to a virtual unknown on the other side of the aisle.<\/p>\n

If this can happen so abruptly in politics, can the same happen in the marketplace? Are established brands as vulnerable to the same phenomenon, and if so, are there opportunities for upstarts to tap into voter\/consumer sentiment and topple them?<\/p>\n

The major difference between political and consumer marketing seems to be the knee-jerk tendency of the former to go negative and bash away repeatedly. Facts are twisted and outright lies are often propagated.<\/p>\n

We consistently hear in our consumer focus groups that, \u201cNegative advertising (or even comparative advertising) is a turn off,\u201d and few, if any brands, ever \u201csink to the level\u201d of bad-mouthing a competitor to the extent the politicians do it.<\/p>\n

Which is not to say that there aren\u2019t some hard-hitting, competitive ads out there.Car companies, mobile phone networks, packaged foods brands and others frequently name competitors\u2019 names in staking their claims of superiority. While we learned in business school that such strategies are better suited to brand challengers rather than brand leaders, we now see companies like Verizon Wireless supplementing its successful \u201cbest network\u201d campaign with direct comparisons of its \u201c3G Network Coverage\u201d with the much sparser coverage of rival AT&T.;<\/p>\n

But do these types of ads tap into the raw anger that is so apparent in our society at present?Probably not.It\u2019s just a cell phone, not your savings, your career, your health or anything else that elicits raw feelings of helplessness or insecurity.<\/p>\n

Or does it?<\/p>\n

Consumers can get awfully worked up about products and services.Credit cards and airlines are two good examples. Speaking from a personal perspective, I can tell you that every time I fly American Airlines (I am that 2 million mile person) and don\u2019t get upgraded, the experience leaves me feeling angry, emotionally drained, physically exhausted and even in pain.My shoulders are wider than the coach seats. The seat ahead of me, unless I\u2019m lucky enough to get a bulkhead or emergency exit row, is so close to me, that I not only feel claustrophobic, but I can\u2019t even open up my laptop computer all the way to work. There\u2019s absolutely nothing decent to eat.<\/p>\n

If United came to me tomorrow, acknowledged my anger directly and offered to transfer my miles and status while offering a more humane experience in coach, I would jump at the chance to switch airlines.<\/p>\n

The key is tapping into my anger in a timely manner. United would have to trash American \u2013 not unfairly \u2013 by laddering up from the bad food, lack of room, etc. to something much bigger. At American you are cattle. You should be mad as hell! At United you are a human being and deserve to be treated as such. Don\u2019t let them take advantage of you! Don\u2019t internalize your anger, do something about it that will make you feel good about yourself!<\/p>\n

This applies well beyond airlines, the banking industry and other obvious categories.Maybe a soup company or a casual dining chain is killing you<\/em> with fat and sodium.There\u2019s something to be angry about!Or a cell phone company is just ripping you off<\/em> with hidden charges or not giving you the coverage it says it provides.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s precisely what the politicians do \u2013 successfully.One might argue that brand images may be irreparably harmed by this approach.Again, with politics as the model, this does not seem to be the case.Such tactics tend to reinforce the base and reach out to those disgruntled people who have not made up their minds, providing a severe shock that forces them to reconsider their world view.<\/p>\n

Going negative is risky business for a brand, especially an established one. But these unconventional times call for unconventional actions to be successful.With the relatively new and powerful tool of social media and marketing available, it would seem that a two-prong approach \u2013 positive on TV and so called \u201ctraditional\u201d media, scathingly negative online \u2013 might be something to consider as a way to steal market share quickly and effectively.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No matter what your politics, the Massachusetts Senate race illustrates the anger and impatience of American voters \u2013 who also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therightbrainstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}