5 Mar 2010

Be a Real Guitar Hero!

I bank with Wells Fargo.  There is a branch across the street with a great staff.  I don't know if this is true across all Wells Fargo locations, but these guys are cool.  They dress cool and act cool, with quirky personalities, non-banking fashion, and a relaxed but still professional attitude.  Banking there is a lot like buying coffee from Dutch Brothers.  In short, I look forward to my visits to that branch.  

After recent visits to both Wells Fargo and Dutch Brothers, this thought struck me:  The more you act like a rock band, the more you will sell.

Disclaimer: By "rock band", I mean a real rock band.  This eliminates Nickleback, Creed, and most 80s hair bands.

The reasons are pretty simple ...
  • Rock bands are cool.  A key driver of self-interest of most people is to be cool - and be perceived as cool.  But a rock band actually has to be cool - otherwise you end up on a reality show with eye-liner left over from the 80s (Yes, I'm talking about you, Bret Michaels)
  • Great rock bands are forever relevant.  Who doesn't want to be relevant?  A thousand years from now, Elvis, The Beatles, and Nirvana will still be relevant.
  • Rock bands are quirky.  This means they stand out.  As I have loudly proclaimed, conformity is not a brand strategy.  
  • Rock bands are interesting.  Why do you think they have groupies?  And what brand doesn't want groupies?
  • Rock bands are good at what they do - and know it.  Some purists bang on Green Day for being sell-outs but you don't last 20 years and sell millions of albums by sucking.
  • The best rock bands work really hard to earn respect rather than purchase it.  They tour constantly, interact with fans, and consistently produce great music - see above.
There are many other reasons rock bands are cool, but the above examples can be applied to any organization. But most don't.  Most brands are content with conformity; or they fear change.  So they play marketing's version of karaoke or Guitar Hero - copying other brands, singing other people's songs - pretending to sing and play.  

So for those brands like my friends at the Bannock Street Wells Fargo in Boise and Dutch Brother coffee kiosks, this is for you:

For those about to rock, we salute you!

We rock at dawn on the front line
Like a bolt right out of the blue
The sky's alight with the guitar bite
Heads will roll and rock tonight!