I've heard it said, “The only constant is change”. I don't quite believe that.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535 BC-475 BC) was big on the idea that “nothing endures but change”, but like I said, I’m not so sure.
Heraclitus: The Postcard & Stamp
Some variables are constant. Others can’t keep still. What’s fascinating to me is the interplay.
I do acknowledge that change, progress, and its pace, ever quicker, has become the backbone of 21st Century living. I think life has become one of acceleration, instant access and expected immediacy.
Technology, Society, Media, these are mutable forms, shape-shifting, forever re-purposing themselves. They sit within the wild, weird and wonderful frame of change.
But there is a frame.
I don’t believe change is the only constant, but that certain Fundamental Truths remain rock-solid. Up remains up, down down, gravity prevents us falling into a big blue sky... and people don't fundamentally change.
This is the frame.
I believe human nature is a constant. Needs, hopes, ambitions, the motivations behind why people do what they do, behave in the ways they do, I believe these are constants.
Vance Packard's seminal (and it really was seminal) text, The Hidden Persuaders was first published in 1957.
The Hidden Persuaders: my copy
Against a backdrop of Conspicuous Consumption, Packard discussed how advertising was deft manipulation, hidden in plain view. The Ad Men had turned psychologists. Strap-lines were Motivational Hooks. Brands were being billed as the salve to our discontented souls. And the Ad Men were making sure we stayed discontented and forever buying.
More than half-century down the road, understanding human motivation, unlocking “the why”, finding all those keys, encouraging people to buy: these remain the fundamentals of Advertising and Branding.
My visual: sadly not a patch on the previous cover jacket.
“Know your audience” remains the imperative, just as it was in Vance’s day. Only the Field of Play, the ring in which brands now get to slug it out, has become unrecognisable. “Shifting sands” doesn’t even come close to describing today’s Media Landscape. Everything’s all 0’s and 1’s. Everything’s gone or going digital. It’s a bold and bright new dawn that’s got every brand reaching for its shades and every marketeer asking, “Just what does this all mean?”
SP.
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