Rastaman Wheel Out - Music & Marketing
Be your brand... Make no excuses, and just do it. You will be loved by some, but not by all. However, it's smart to be genuinely who you are or your chances of convincing others, having success, and longevity become rapidly slim. The key, you don't have to be perfect.
Being your brand makes you more relatable to others. Believe it or not, even those who don't agree with you, will at least trust, and welcome you, if you are who you are.
So what does my rambling have to do with Reggae Music? On our recent trip to Jamaica we met lots of local people, and one name came up several times... Chronixx... The cab driver mentioned it, the radio played it, and others we met as well.
When we got home, I still had that upbeat reggae music providing an upbeat vibe in my head, and decided to take a look on iTunes to see if I could find an album that would give us a lasting memory of the incredible experience we had. I typed in Chronixx... Sure enough there was a new album out called Dread and Terrible. I bought it, and it's been playing non-stop by our poolside.
I should digress a bit, and mention that yes, I am a 42 year old white male from Connecticut. I am a fan of all music, but I am a huge fan of Reggae and have been since I was 15 years old. My teen years, along with most of my friends, were spent listening to Bob Marley pretty much non-stop. While we had never been to Jamaica, the music made more sense to us than anything on the radio. Praise Jah (GOD), and live with a sense of gratitude. What could possibly be a better message?
While there is a lot of poverty, in Jamaica, everyone we met greeted us with the words "blessings or respect". Each person seemed to have a genuine interest in the experience we were having, closing our conversations with "have a blesssed day mon." All we could talk about, on work / vacation, was the fact that Jamaica in all of it's glory would be an incredible Netflix Original Series. (We have endless ideas, and are ready to start filming Netflix... Call me:))
Ok... Back to the point. After spending my first week home listening to Chronixx new album Dread and Terrible, I was intrigued enough by his voice to take the time to look him up on youTube, which as a 42 year old, I never do. What I saw was eye opening in terms of marketing.
If you watch the video at the top of this post you will see an artist making no excuses for who he is. In fact he is reveling in it. While many may see it as a marketing scheme, I see it as pure genius. Not since Michael Jackson have I really seen a music video that told a story the way this video does, and I think he is onto something big. He is in fact, being his brand.
Selling music, selling coffee, or selling tennis shoes, brands should be themselves and allow viewers and customers in. In fact, in this age, every brand should have their own video marketing or TV show online, but that we will save for another post. You can't be all things to all people, but what Chronixx shares is that you can be natural, you can be yourself, and in doing so you can gain an even broader audience.
