88-89 LSB Bass Line_muk.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 12/09/2020 07:52 Page 89
THE BASS LINE
Right: Ben & Jerry’s and Nike are among the unexpected major brand mash ups which emerged during lockdown.
The swinging 60s?
Mad brews In the past few weeks alone we’ve seen Marmite and Lynx collaborate on a social distancing deodorant, Ben & Jerry’s and Nike on freaky trainers, and Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Peanut Butter. Brands aren’t standing still and watching the world change, they’re trying to dominate the news agenda with disruptive products that make you stop, stand and stare, even if it’s only online. Viral posts on social media depend on instant likeability and shareability. If you can make a product that makes people look twice and ask themselves “am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” before asking their friends “did you see this?”, then you have a winner. But the search for the social spike is much harder than trying to turn heads in a store, which means brands are trying weirder collabs than ever before, just to move the needle. At least in a store someone is actually browsing. If you’re deep dive online shopping for something specific like a camera then there’s no way you will buy cookware – unlike shopping in John Lewis where you always end up in the cookware department no matter what. Just as the encyclopaedia is dead because browsing alphabetically for knowledge is very last century, so department stores are going to need to massively up their game to survive. This means that when experiential comes back, it’s coming back with a vengeance, and exclusive mad brews are going to be the norm.
Post-war, ration book Britain was not a particularly pleasant time to be young. However, in just ten years a new vibrant young generation were leading a counter-culture and establishing new brands that, even today, still generate significant licensing revenue. Post-COVID Britain is likely to be similarly austere – thousands of lost jobs and impending tax increases don’t exactly bode for a celebration of life. However, the structural changes of this shutdown will allow new freedoms for those prepared to adapt. Freedom to work more from home, to achieve a life/work balance, to succeed in a meritocracy rather than a privileged elite, to speak truth to power. We have undergone a revolution and those people sitting on their hands waiting for normality to return are going to miss out. As a famous voice once said “you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, cos the times they are a changing…"
Inset: Structural changes of the lockdown will allow new freedoms for those who adapt, such as work/life balance.
Permission to change In the spirit of hard and true talking, if you or your business were furloughed then it’s time to rethink your life or business plan. There is no disgrace or indignity in this. Unlike the trauma and stigma of bankruptcy, you have a completely free hit to find your new niche in life. This needs to be seen as an opportunity to find something you love, that you’re good at and that you can be paid to do. The career change opportunity is real and exciting and has to be embraced if it’s going to happen, but it may just be the best thing that ever happened to us. In the past few months it has felt at times like a tunnel has collapsed and many of us can’t see the light. Well, the best way to survive a tunnel collapse is to dig towards the light. My advice, if you’re not sure what to do… dig for victory. LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2020
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