“89 is the new Pink”

‍

When they said the monoculture was dead, whoever they are, they had yet to experience the cultural synchrony of an emergency alert.

Or the Eras tour.

These types of events make us question the narratives we buy into, and the reality that we live in. The idea that a monoculture is dead, has itself, become a moncultural idea. Is the monoculture dead? It doesn’t feel like it.

We still experience many monocultural moments; one is brewing right now — the NFL’s capitalization on the Swift x Kelce romance.

The acceleration of the speed of culture means that the meme-to-commerce pipeline is faster than ever: 

• Subcultural event
• Brand capitalizes on that event
• Other brands pile on
• Broader cultural awareness through media coverage
• Monocultural manifestation
• Disbelief and denial

Of course, you’re familiar with the summer of Barbenheimer. Clever brands that were left out of the marketing-budget-to-end-all-marketing-budgets jumped on the bandwagon by merchandising their existing pink goods to a pink-hungry crowd of moviegoers. 

The same is happening now with Traylor (Tayvis?) — brands are co-opting “1989” in their marketing in order to jump into the fray. This was observed first with the jacket that Travis wore during the couple’s first outing following Taylor’s first Chiefs game appearance: 

As legend has it, according to Joe Pompliano, a marketer at KidSuper saw the jacket make the news, and they quickly jumped on the trend by renaming it 1989. The story would have you believe it was unplanned — but why would this story come from Joe? Where did he source this information?

The story, the source, and the screenshots don’t add up. “Who had the screenshot pocketed ahead of time? Only a PR team that had this planned all along?!” I’m screaming to myself.  What’s the more likely story? It’s up to you to decide.

And then there’s the morning after — New Balance’s email that landed the next day featured red-and-white 550’s — the same ones Taylor wore that night. Shocker, the model is wearing a 1989 Jacket. How?

Was this the result of Generative AI doctoring an existing piece of collateral? Maybe. Is it more likely that this was all planned? You decide. 

The likelihood that culture is driving a faster pace of marketing pile-on is quite high. Highly unlikely is that so many teams across so many brands are reacting so swiftly (groan, sorry) on the opportunity for exposure.

This is the kind of skepticism that only an experienced corporate operator, especially one in eCom for any amount of time, can bring to the conversation. It delights me that eCom and retention marketing are the core drivers here. Yes, it’s possible. Is it plausible? Probably not. \

We’re now at the disbelief and denial phase, and conspiracy theories are beginning to brew. “This was in a marketing deck 6 months ago.” quips Joshua Ariza.

You know what else I saw in a marketing deck 6 months ago? That the monoculture was dead.

— Phillip

P.S. Great products begin with great CX. We’re diving deep into what stellar CX can do for a product launch in our newest season of Decoded, brought to you in partnership with BigCommerce. Listen wherever podcasts are found, or right over here.

P.S.S. “Just make it go viral,” isn’t such a difficult thing to pull off anymore. Marketers have greater insight into creating brand moments than ever, and we have five weird ways of how to do just that — number three will blow your mind.

‍