Steve Jobs has been quoted many times on many topics. One of his most interesting analyzes concerned Microsoft
He said Microsoft (which at the time was many times the size and value of Apple) might have been very successful, but it had no flair. He went on to say that what he meant by that was that he lacked an understanding of how the product would be used and how it would land in the dominant culture of the time. He concluded that they would ultimately lose because they were producing an unimpressive product.
For a long time, his theory worked. Microsoft lost while Apple gained – in terms of size and market value. Year after year, Microsoft missed what Android had become, leaving a $400 billion product opportunity to Google. In fact, it was only by finding cultural fit and investing in an entirely new field, in this case artificial intelligence (AI), that Microsoft regained its former position as one of the most valuable companies.
Therefore, for Steve Jobs, cultural relevance was not just a marketing idea, but a necessity for the product. However, for many others, cultural significance seems to be seen as the idea of “involvement.” You know, “Once we have the product, distribution, pricing and company structure right, we can see if we have time to get the marketing” to be a little more cultural about the song. I've had conversations with those who help companies find agencies through research exercises and pitches, who will say that many of their clients aren't really sure why the cultural relevance of their category matters anyway.
Let's look at that for a moment.
Even though Steve wasn't wrong about much, I often think that when you're arguing about something, the smartest way to look at it is to think about what things would be like in his absence. This means that you have a product that you are very proud of, but your children don't even understand why they need it, nor what its purpose is. Culturally, they simply don't understand it. Problem, I think you'll agree.
This is exactly the conversation I remember having with the global CEO of HP's printer division (a £60bn company at the time) in his San Diego office a few years ago. His daughter had just gone off to college and he generously sent her a state-of-the-art personal printer to take with her. I sent it back with a “why do I need this” message. He contacted his agency to say he was now seriously concerned about his product and category being irrelevant to the next generation – with a big request to start looking at what to do about it. You may wonder if you need to be culturally relevant. But you definitely don't want your product to be culturally irrelevant.
Understanding how people look at things is crucial to any decent product development strategy. In the same way, it is crucial to any decent marketing investment strategy. While working with Mercedes AMG, we noticed that the cool hedonists of the time were appropriating the brand and its most popular products in rap, videos and on Instagram. So, when AMG wanted to expand its marketing audience beyond the Clarkson cars of the past, it really just needed to embrace the audience that already loved it. It opened the door to a younger, more feminine, more cosmopolitan group who were less interested in what was under the hood, and more interested in how they felt. The result has paved the way to help the brand shift from big, noisy V8 engines to an electric future, while increasing and lowering the average age of buyers.
Culture is not a mysterious chemical idea that few understand. Culture is all around us. This is what we do, see and admire. This is what our friends and their children do. It is simply opening our eyes to today and tomorrow and letting go of yesterday. This understanding goes a long way in guiding brands and marketers as they navigate the challenging landscape of maintaining their brand's core principles and values, while constantly adapting to be relevant today.
So, the next time someone in your organization starts talking about cultural relevance, maybe dig a little deeper and see what you can do to share that knowledge with your product teams, channel, and pricing decision-makers, as well as your marketing teams. This could ensure that you reach the top of the relevance tree, before your competitors.
