SIMON SETHS

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Millions hang on to his assessment of vocal talent that we can easily surmise for ourselves. Still, judge, indeed we do: the results of responses mean millions into the pockets of the American Idol crew. Yet judge Simon Cowell dresses like we’ve caught him in a hardware store on a Saturday morning. And his pronouncements are delivered with stale similes and meagre metaphors inferior in originality and wit to those of his nemesis, the scorned Ryan Seacrest.

Why do we listen?

Meanwhile, Seth Rogen has recently created an audience for characters that aspire to the most fundamental of human longings, like holding down a job and/or maintaining a first-and-only romantic relationship. What is delivered from the mouths of his characters could reasonably be considered base (or even obscene) in average company. What goes in? Typically, fumes from contraband substances.

What gives?

Seth Godin, in All Marketers Are Liars, writes that people respond to authenticity. Yes. But it’s more than that. I believe people are hungry for truth.

Say what you will about him, most would agree Cowell speaks the truth. At least, as he sees it. That alone, isn’t enough, of course. Everyone has an opinion. But what Simon says has merit, because he has a history of success in the discovery and promotion of musical talent. That’s legitimacy. And because, for most of our lives, we suppress saying what we really feel, we secretly adore the brand of Simon — because he says what we wouldn’t dare, should we ever find ourselves in his chair. (And in that T-shirt.) That he’s clearly a self-admitted, self-satisfied prat, well, that’s authenticity.

Rogen, of course, speaks simultaneously for our inner fearful child and our inner hedonist. There is (previously unspoken) truth in his words. Legitimacy in his acting. And authenticity in his brand projection of hangdog expression combined with (until recently) a doughy physicality.

Marketing now is effectively becoming a dialogue — a live performance over a broadcast special, if you will. The truth will arise somewhere. If not from the marketer, certainly from the audience, if one even shows up.

The objective for marketers who genuinely wish their brand to be embraced, is to establish their legitimacy and, in an undeniably authentic voice, trumpet a fresh, relevant truth an audience can unashamedly clamor for.