Irony marketing

Authenticity is everything. Which raises the inevitable question, how do you fake it?

Social media using, blog writing, green marketing, anti-corporate ethosing, ‘we’re not in it for the money’-ness has all combined to make slick sales patter very uncool. So, businesses turn to faux modest, tell-it-like-it-is, folksy conversational styles instead. Instant authenticity.

[Ironic heavy-metal t-shirt wearing advertising types dispense celebratory high fives.]

But what happens when we go beyond the beyond, where even the conversational styles aren’t cutting it anymore?

From a blog post entitled, Irony Marketing discussing the post-ironic, oh-so-cool, give-it-to-them-straight labeling on MASH (a water-type drink):

Some ad guy stands up after a 10-hour brainstorming session, rips up his notes, and shouts, “Fuck this shit! I hate this business! Research says authenticity? Let’s just give it to them.”… And proceeds to spend the next 10 hours choosing the best way to convey “fuck this shit” and “give it to them”.

With a brand that preambles their message with “It’s not 100% juice, it’s not soda-pop, nor will you get energy or vitamins from it…”, I just can’t decide if it is cooler to like or dislike this drink. In this anti-anti-cool, counter-counter-culture, be-rich-but-appear-poor New York we live in, being cool is becoming so damn hard.

The next step, “MASH: A water type drink you might like.”

Tagged as: irony marketing, mash