Steve Jobs has been quoted many times on many topics. One of his most interesting analyses was regarding Microsoft

He said Microsoft (which at the time was many multiples the scale and value of Apple) might be very successful, but it had no taste. He went on to say what he meant by that was in a big way, it lacked the understanding of how the product was going to be used and how it would be landing in the culture of the day. Ultimately, he concluded, they will lose because they are producing product that is not admirable.

For a long while, his theory played out. Microsoft lost while Apple gained – in scale and market capitalisation. Year after year, Microsoft missed what Android became, leaving a $400bn product opportunity to Google. Indeed, it is only by finding cultural relevance and investing in a whole new area, in this case Artificial Intelligence (AI), that Microsoft regained its former position as one of the most valuable corporations.

So, for Steve Jobs, cultural relevance was not just a marketing idea, it was a product necessity. Yet for so many others out there, cultural relevance seems to be seen as an ‘opt in’ notion. You know the thing, ”once we have the product, distribution,  pricing, and the company structure right, we can see if we have time to get the marketing” to be a bit more culturally on song. I have even had conversations with those who help companies find agencies through search exercises and pitches, who will say that many of their clients are not really sure why cultural relevance is important to their category anyway.

Let’s take a look at that for a moment.

Putting aside that Steve was not wrong about much, I often think that when you are arguing for something, the smartest way to look at it is to consider how things would look in its absence. Meaning that you have a product that you are very proud of, but your kids don’t even understand why they would need it, nor what it is for. Culturally they simply don’t get it. A problem, I think you would agree.

This is exactly the conversation I recall having with the global CEO of HP Printers division (a business worth £60bn at the time) at his office in San Diego some years ago. His daughter had just gone to off to college and he generously dispatched the latest personal printer for her to have with her. She sent it back with the message “why would I need this”. And he called his agency in to tell us that he was now seriously worried about his product and category being irrelevant for the next generation – with a major ask to set about looking into what to do about it. You might wonder if you need to be culturally relevant. But you sure as anything don’t want your product to be culturally irrelevant.

Understanding how people are looking at things is crucial to any decent product development strategy. And in the same way it’s crucial to any decent marketing investment strategy. When working with Mercedes AMG, we noticed that the cool hedonists of the day were appropriating the brand and its most iconic products in rap, in video and on Instagram. So, when AMG wanted to expand its marketing audience beyond the Clarkson-esque petrolheads of the past, it really only needed to embrace an audience that was already loving it. Opening the door to a younger, more female and more global group who were less interested in what was under the bonnet, and more interested in how it made them feel. The result has paved the way to help the brand transition from big roaring V8s to an electrified future, whilst growing and lowering the average age of the buyers.

Culture is not a mysterious alchemic notion that only a few understand. Culture is all around us. It’s what we are doing, seeing and liking. It’s what our friends and their kids are doing. It’s simply just opening our eyes to today and tomorrow and letting go of yesterday. This understanding helps a great deal in guiding brands and marketers as they navigate the tricky landscape of keeping true to the core principles and values of their brand, whilst constantly adjusting to be relevant for today.

So the next time someone in your organisation starts to talk about cultural relevance, maybe dig a bit deeper and see what you can do to have that knowledge shared with the product teams, the distribution channel, the pricing decision makers as a well as the marketing teams. And it might just ensure you get to the top of the relevance tree, ahead of your competitors.

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In today’s fast-paced business landscape, the phrase ‘This is how we do things around here’ seems to have lost its relevance.

Gone are the days when craftsmen and tradespeople meticulously honed their skills, passing down traditions to the next generation with pride. As we transition from the incremental era of yesteryears to the exponential age of today, it’s easy to believe that the rules of the past no longer apply.

We’ve witnessed seismic shifts in how we consume media, shop, bank, and communicate, both virtually and in person. But just as we learned twenty years ago, the answer was not Bricks OR Clicks but Bricks AND Clicks (i.e real and virtual access to our brands), perhaps it’s time to revisit some timeless principles. Despite the allure of wholesale change, there’s value in acknowledging and retaining the fundamental truths that have guided business for generations.

In his post of Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos spent as much time on what he knew would NOT change as he did on what he predicted would change in the next ten years. As he put it, he knew spending money on the former perennials (low prices, fast delivery, vast choice) would pay back for a decade or more, whereas the latter might not be so long lasting. As historians say, those who ignore or forget history will be forced to learn its painful lessons all over again.

So, are there things in this shiny, fresh, brand marketing world that we can retain from the days of yore when seemingly everything has changed?

Inevitably, I intend to argue yes. But only in part of course.

How many of you still watch shows on the same TV station, at the same time, and the same channel as it was first broadcast? The data says not many and it continues to decline every year. More and more of us are watching more content than ever on a big panel in the living room AND a smaller panel in our hand at a time, and on the channel of our choosing. That’s a new way to watch what we used to call TV.

We are also getting more dynamic and personalised ads served to us on social media because our phone heard us talking the night before to friends about the topic that we are now being served an ad for. That’s a new tool that has the power to surprise! Outdoor media, which used to be the preserve of simple static printed ads for consumer goods, has now become giant, weatherproof cinema screens with engaging and fun content for luxury brands.

So yes, a lot has changed. But to the point, a lot has also stayed the same.

For starters, we are still communicating with each other. And all the best communications find ways to engage an audience, not to interrupt and repeatedly shout at them. The same is true of storytelling: authentic, human, and emotional. These are the things we love – from the tales of the Roman Empire, to Norsemen crossing the seas to seeing humankind head back to the Moon and then venture to Mars. We love a good story.

In marketing, there is no B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer), but everything is now B2A (business to audience) engagement. So, treat everyone as a fully-fledged member of the human race and you are more likely to get their interest, followship and support – all the things a brand desperately needs to create behavioural change and repeat purchases.

The second thing that hasn’t changed is relevance. Don’t advertise dog food to someone who doesn’t own a dog. You’re paying to advertise there, and it’s being wasted. It doesn’t matter if your customer sees the ad as a 5 second spot on TikTok instead of a 30 second spot on ITV, it’s still true. We used to accept that 99% of direct mail was wasted because the 1% buying the product paid back the cost of the mailer. But then we realised that meant 99 out of 100 people when looking at a message from your brand were then rejecting it and carrying it to the dustbin. Not great.

The same is true of today’s online ads. Don’t make someone wait for a to watch a YouTube video with an unskippable ad to serve me a dull bit of film about a product I have no interest in. You are spending money to make your customer feel that bit worse about you.

And the third thing that hasn’t changed is craft. Whatever the piece of communication you want to put out in the world, we all know the positive impression great content can leave you with. There is still a level of perceived reassurance, or shall we call it a quality impression, about seeing a lovely bit of film or an amazing still image from a brand or a well written piece of copy. Even if we haven’t heard of the brand prior to seeing it, engaging content, effective audience targeting, and timing, is going to have a disproportionate effect in terms of brand impression and purchase intent.

It’s interesting isn’t it, because I would bet that in your own business, whatever product you make or service you provide, if you are not thinking about the humanity, the relevance and the craft of what you do, you will be less successful. The same is true of brand marketing and yes, in short, some of the old rules do still apply. Just like old dogs learning new tricks.

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Why some of the old rules still apply in business