What is the relevance of ‘postmodern marketing’ to the creative and media industries?

MARKETING & MARKETS

2,739 words

Student 1160350

Introduction

The idea of postmodernism and the postmodern denotes a distinctive but far from specific set of

ideas and concepts arising around the 1960s. It has had an impact on almost every aspect of culture

and creativity; from art and architecture to socio-political movements such as feminism.

(Featherstone 1991) The field of ‘postmodern marketing’ attempts to understand this ‘new stage’ of

human experience and apply its principles to marketing approaches.

By their very nature, the creative and media industries are susceptible to the influences of cultural

and social developments, as well as often being their creators and arbiters. This is why the question

of postmodern marketing in these industries is important. Few industries have had as much impact

on contemporary culture as the advertising industry. Responsible for much of the creative output of

the previous and present centuries, advertising incorporates visual art, written media and

psychosocial aspects. It can also be argued that the initial concept of advertising – as a method of

marketing to the masses with a simple call to action – was a modernist one, which has had to evolve

in a postmodern world. Thus it is the perfect area of creative and media industries to focus on for

insights into the relevance of postmodern marketing.

The essay begins with an overview of what is meant by postmodernism, then outlines the theories of

postmodern marketing. Through this I will set out a framework of rough criteria and attributes for

postmodern marketing, and then explore to what extent these are today apparent, employing

examples of contemporary advertising. A discussion of critiques of ‘postmodern marketing’ follows,

before a conclusion about the relevance of this new approach for the creative and media industries.

What is postmodernism?

“Not so much a question of historical period, but of a special aesthetic and special philosophy.”

(Sipe 2008)

‘A rather shallow and meaningless intellectual fad.’

(Featherstone 1991:1)

These descriptions, one rather less reverential and more dismissive than the other, have both been

applied to that phenomenon known as postmodernism. It has also been defined as ‘the

randomisation of cultural production’ (Malcolm Bradbury, The Guardian, December 9 1995), ‘an

opportunist, voracious term’ (Alan Yentob, BBC) and even ‘the total disintegration of the very notion

of meaning’ (Wakefield 1990). Anyone confused by the plethora of overlapping and differing

descriptions of the concept, however, can take comfort from the fact that plurality and breakdown

of cultural authority is generally held to be intrinsic to postmodernism. This goes with a general

breakdown of respect for rationality and progress intrinsic to Modernism. The confident Modernist

concept and aesthetic expressed itself in architecture through impressive buildings of steel and

concrete, in art through startling innovations like Cubism and Surrealism, and in design through

daringly short 1920s hemlines, and geometric art deco. Modernism was marked by a desire to break

with the past, believing in novelty and progress as ever-improving. Postmodernism, on the other

hand, has lost this faith. (Featherstone 1991) The breakdown of belief in metanarratives – all-

encompassing philosophies – goes alongside the disintegration of homogeneous societies and ways

of thought. In art and culture, earnestness gives way to playful irony, while media-saturated

audiences can be expected to recognise pastiche and intertextuality. The growth of consumerism

and the individual makes values and interpretations fragmented and highly subjective.

What is postmodern marketing?

But what does all of this seemingly abstract philosophising have to do with marketing goods and

services to consumers? Bernard Cova (1996) undertook to answer this very question, taking his cue

from marketing consultant James Ogilvy, who declared: ‘The postmodern is too important to be left

to French philosophers alone.’

Cova’s insights are focused on the shift in consumer psychology and behaviour in the postmodern

era. Crucially, he says, consumers no longer simply consume a product, but they consume a symbolic

meaning associated with it. The building of identity through consumption is a phenomenon that

others (Brown 1995, Turnock 2007) have also associated with postmodern culture. In today’s world

of deliberately conspicuous cultural consumption via, for example, social media applications like

Spotify-for-Facebook, this idea that we consciously define ourselves through consumption holds

increasing weight. Cova mentions that this individualism, paradoxically, goes alongside tribalism.

Fragmented identities and the weakening of traditional institutional identity-givers like state and

family (also noted by Kelner, 1992), call for a more fluid but not less connected sense of community,

which, nowadays, is often expressed via shared consumption habits and online connections. His

point that hyper-reality replaces authenticity calls to mind niche online simulations like Second Life

but also the mainstream Facebook, both of which hold huge marketing potential.

Firat et al (1995) make a similar analysis, but give more emphasis to consumer sovereignty and the

desire for customisation. Like Cova, they believe that the age of mass homogenous consumption has

given way to a more interactive world. Audiences can alter meanings and subvert marketing

messages, an effect that has been noted with respect to television (Ang 1991) and advertising

consumption (O’Donohoe 1994). The writers believe marketing to be an important mediator of the

postmodernist experience, and conclude by advocating a re-evaluation of traditional marketing’s

‘long-held views and ideals.’ Cova concludes that post-modern marketing needs to recognise and

respond to new elements. Slightly more specific in his recommendations, he calls for incorporating

co-creation, customisation and interactivity, while not losing sight of tribalism and potential for

fostering fragmented virtual communities.

These authors focus on the marketing macro-approach, without making much reference to the

character or tone of the marketing communications and media themselves. I would argue that these

also mark a shift from previous marketing approaches. Inasmuch as postmodern marketing takes on

the values of postmodernism, it reflects the tendency towards irony, self-mocking and anti-

authoritarian attitudes, as well as heavy use of intertextual visuals and narratives designed to spark

recognition with a media-savvy audience. (O’Donohoe 1997)

Like postmodernism itself, postmodern marketing is a concept open to varying interpretations,

However, through the insights above, a set of recurring themes emerges. I have used these to

construct a rudimentary framework of analysis, identifying salient features of what could be termed

a ‘postmodern marketing approach:’

Focus on emotional and symbolic meaning

Customisation and audience interactivity

Emphasis on tribalism and identity

Irony, playfulness and intertextuality

I will now go on to consider the evidence and relevance of these components with specific regard to

the field of advertising, a mammoth of the creative and media industries, employing hundreds of

thousands of people worldwide, and attracting $467 billion of investment in 2011. (Wolfe 2011)

Postmodern marketing in contemporary advertising?

Advertising has obscure origins. When defined as ‘paid-for communication intended to inform

and/or persuade,’ (Fletcher 2010:2) it potentially encompasses even the earliest preliterate signs

and symbols created to attract trade or influence behaviour. However, the field of modern

advertising grew up with the advent of print and the Industrial Revolution, both of which

transformed Western societies and were central to the modernist world of technology and

commerce. By the time capitalist mass production reached its heyday in the first half of the 20th

century, advertising was big business. With its philosophy of aspirational progress through products,

and collective consumerist approach firmly geared towards the masses, modern advertising began as

a modernist marketing practice. Like all areas of the creative and media industries, however,

advertising has been placed under constant pressure to evolve, if it is to continue appealing to

audiences. Does it now display elements of postmodern marketing? We turn to the contemporary

advertising mediascape scene for evidence of the postmodern marketing traits and techniques

identified.

Focus on emotional and symbolic meaning

There is evidence in much of today’s advertising, of an emphasis on the emotional aspect of a

product. While it has been a long-held adage for lifestyle products in particular, that one should ‘sell

the sizzle and not the sausage,’ it appears advertisers of even the most functional products are now

acting in line with Cova‘s assertion that the consumer of a product wants more than simply to meet

an end (Cova 1996).

Thus we have a multitude of such emotive advertising campaigns, that seek to attach feelings of

nostalgia and national pride to bread and butter (Hovis 1973-2008, Clover 2006), of freedom and

escape to a mobile service provider (O2 2012) and of romantic passion to household paint. (Dulux

2012). This technique has been used for many decades, but it marks a shift from earlier approaches

to advertising, in which the features and functions of the product itself, not the feelings associated

with it, were the exclusive or primary focus. (Fletcher 2010)

Customisation and audience interactivity

The age of mass consumption is far from behind us. In fact, identical products are created in ever

greater numbers thanks to advancing technology and industrial booms in the developing and

emergent markets. (MAPI 2011) However, what has occurred in the West, at least, is a shift in

consumer psychology. Simplistically put, in place of the old ‘Keeping Up With the Joneses’

philosophy that encouraged people to aspire to consume the same things in the same way as their

peers and neighbours (Turnock 2007), advertising now increasingly focuses on ways in which the

consumer can alter the product and use it to create personal distinction.

One prominent recent example is the television campaign for the Google Chrome browser. Dear

Sophie (2011) features a new father using various tools within the new browser to create a digital

video and email diary of his daughter’s life as she grows up. The browser’s functional object, to allow

access to and navigation of the Internet, seems almost secondary to the potential for personalisation

and identity-creation.

Emphasis on tribalism and identity

Advertising has long recognised that people like to think of themselves belonging to certain groups.

But ‘tribalism’ in advertising was traditionally based on pre-existing social tribes like class (the

marketing of Rolls-Royce as a car for discerning professionals: Fig. 1) or race (the advertising of

menthol cigarettes in the US to African-Americans: Johnson 2008). Increasingly, the creation of a

tribal identity around a product or brand has become a key feature of advertising campaigns. Brands

like Apple aim to create a loyalty to the brand by making it central to a sense of belonging to a club:

‘If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone.’ (2011) This development extends

beyond technology brands into fast moving consumer goods. Both Marmite and Cadburys (Spots v

Stripes 2010) ran successful cross-media campaigns designed to engage consumers by encouraging

tribal feeling and action. The 15 year-old ‘Love it or Hate it’ Marmite campaign, itself reflecting a

playfully postmodern approach by frankly admitting and glorifying a potential downside of the

product, was taken to a new level in 2009. People were encouraged to declare their love or hatred of

the spread on social media and website platforms, where they could join either ‘movement.’ They

did so in their thousands, sharing their opposing views on Facebook and Twitter. Even seemingly

trivial divisions can be exploited for advertising purposes, in a world where people are constantly

concerned with building and sharing their identities. (Kellner 1992:141-77)

Irony, playfulness and intertextuality

Advertising has a wealth of formulas, aesthetics and clichés that it has developed over the years.

Characters like the talking heads, the celebrity spokesperson, the happy family and the beleaguered

housewife, recur again and again. (Ogilvy 1995) At some point, however, these hackneyed

approaches took on new life in the form of irony, parody and pastiche. This aims to deal with the

boredom and disengagement that repetitive familiarity breeds. It fits with the postmodern

philosophy that novelty is illusion, and all that can be done is to reinvent the past. (Bennett 2001)

Often, the products that get this treatment are the ones whose advertising has built up a particularly

heavy residue of cliché in the past. So we see household cleaning products, traditionally peddled by

beaming housewives, employing a bright, overtly kitsch aesthetic, using comically extreme

incarnations of the flowery ’80s housewife (Vanish, Fig 2), or even subverting the stereotype by

having her played by a man in drag. (Bounty, 2009) Advertising for men’s hygiene products, similarly

promoted in the past by seriously-intended stereotypes of masculinity, now pokes fun at this

tradition by producing bizarre exaggerations of it. Isaiah Mustafa and Fabio, the Old Spice personas

(2011-) exemplify this perfectly, with their bulging muscles and their hyper-macho catchphrases:

‘The man your man COULD smell like’ and ‘Smell like POWER!’ At the same time, these humorous

techniques are perfectly suited to virality in the social media age, in which advertising often aims to

create memes which people will share, thus involving the audience as an extension of both medium

and message; not as the passive consumers that modernist marketing treats them as.

Is it really postmodernism?

While contemporary advertising yields many examples of the traits identified and associated with a

postmodern marketing approach, there is potential to argue that these do not in themselves prove

that a true postmodern shift has taken place. As noted earlier, techniques such as attaching emotion

to products have been around for a long time. Brands in the cigarette industry, for example,

consisting of largely homogenous products, took pains to differentiate themselves by appropriating

connotations of masculinity, feminism and even health. (Kellner 1992:158-72) The clue to the shift,

however, comes when we look further into the history of advertising and realise that while this

emotive approach appeared early on, it was preceded by a more rational modernist strategy of

declaring the practical benefits of the products being advertised. (Fig 1, Appendix)

Another potential critique is that the role of technology is the real instigator of change, and the

phenomena of customisation and increased consumer interactivity are simply consequences of the

appearance of new media like the Internet with its social media platforms. While this may be true, it

merely offers a way to explain one aspect of the shift rather than to explain it away. Advancement of

interactive technologies is indeed a key feature of postmodernism, and I argue that postmodern

marketing harnesses the new spirit of co-creation and individualisation they encourage, in the same

way that earlier advertising made use of the mass medium of the television to address large

audiences via a distinctly modernist model of one-way communication.

Finally, it may be advanced that these postmodern marketing techniques are not universally

effective. Certainly when we consider interactivity, customisation and intertextuality, it appears that

the audiences best placed to respond to these are younger and media-savvy. (O’Donohoe, 1997)

This raises the issue of whether postmodern marketing in fact boils down to a tailored approach

targeted at a particular, albeit diverse, demographic. But given the vast range of products and

services that now employ these techniques to varying degrees, this seems implausible. While

products aimed at the young, for example Lynx body spray (Fig. 4) do show frequent evidence of

postmodernist self-mocking tones, it also features strongly in advertisements for ‘older’ products

such as mortgages (Barclays 2011) . And the focus on building emotional engagement with brands,

rather than simply winning a sale, is almost nowhere more apparent than in advertising for near-

universal products like washing-up liquid (Fairy 2011). Postmodern marketing cannot be dismissed as

a narrow question of demographics; it is an approach marked by a pervasive set of attitudes and

emphases.

Conclusion

The concept of postmodernism is not merely an abstract philosophy, but a real observation of

cultural shifts during the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st, marked by a move towards

plurality of interpretations, individualism, identity-building through consumption and a jaded

familiarity with the media and its techniques. Postmodernist marketing attempts to explain how the

loosely linked set of phenomena can be used to inform how products and services are marketed.

Through the study of postmodern marketing texts, I suggested a framework of features for this

approach, choosing to examine contemporary advertising for evidence of a shift to postmodern

marketing. Examples abound supporting the hypothesis that advertising has moved from a rational

modernist model towards the postmodern traits of focus on emotional and symbolic meaning,

customisation and audience interactivity, emphasis on tribalism and identity and irony, playfulness

and intertextuality. I would further argue that the status of advertising as a large and culturally

influential sector means that its embrace of postmodern marketing inevitably gives the approach

relevance not only within its own boundaries, but almost certainly across the creative and media

industries.

Appendix

Fig. 1- Rolls Royce (1954)

Fig.2 – Vanish (2010)

Fig. 3 – Bounty/Plenty (2009)

Fig 4- Lynx (2011)

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