What 80s Skateboarding can Teach People about Marketing Channels

When Street Skating took off in the late 70’s early 80’s,  many skaters had to end up making a choice whether to do contests or do videos.  Contests where very structured and was the traditional paid route (mainstream).  Video cameras at this time were also coming to light, and kids could finally afford to create and distribute their own content.   Many had to choose between what they viewed as making a living and selling out, and trying something truly new and innovative.  Which where highly copied, shared, and coveted across a very selected engaged community.

One media channel was very well established, strict regulations, low risk, low rewards, and high barriers to entry.

Another new media channel was taking off, had no rules or regulations, and were sought out by tons of fans.

Similar forks in the road are forming every day.  Which one would you choose, and what levels of diversification can you employ to balance the well known and established and take a risk and get noticed?  A better question is how does your media strategy align with an ever changing bell curve with uneven distribution and ROI. 

 

-pd

 

 

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Is Pepsi becoming the new Redbull?

 

As a Brand matures, they begin to diversify. The brand architecture becomes less about corporate colors and identity, and more about a brand experience and lifestyle.  Pepsi has been embracing this strategy with its “Max” line, proudly encouraging fans to carpe diem.

Damien Walters has been a youtube sensation for a few years now. Below is his 2011 showreel.  He has bee a figurehead in the freerunning and pakour community for quite some time.

In addition to seeing Pepsi continue to evolve as a brand, the other thing worth mentioning here is how they are using celebrity talent for brand transference.  Youtube is rapidly becoming a place for talent discovery and recruitment.  As the web has given a voice to everyman, talent and quality content is accessible to all. Some brands like Pepsi have moved into content creation using youtube sensations to draw a larger buzz on social media.

I think this campaign is a win-win.  Damien Walters gets to showcase his amazing talent to a larger audience, and Pepsi continues to expand its social capital to a younger generation with an exciting new ad campaign.  This campaign speaks to the future of brands becoming their own syndication channels of user curated talent.

-pd