I realise I have the same relationship with popular culture as a mechanic has with engines. If something becomes immensely popular, I want to understand why. I want to look under the hood and discover what combination of forces have sparked off each other to drive immense amounts of people to go out and buy something (quite a handy obsession, given that I’m in advertising).
So when I don’t ‘get’ something that’s massively popular, it makes me even more curious about understanding it. Ergo, Lady Gaga – to me she just seems another in a long line of Madonnabees plying bland Europop. But there’s obviously something happening there that I’m missing. So I wondered what lessons we, in advertising, could learn from the Gaga phenom, here are my conclusions:
1) Style triumphs over content if it’s style at its most avant-garde
2) There’s a thin line between pure ugliness and fashionable beauty
3) A stupid name is no barrier to success
4) Edgy packaging can make a safe product appear more dangerous (turn off the visuals, and it’s generic beach bar music)
5) The Fortune 500 favours the relentless
6) Controversy is a partner that requires constant courting
7) A little mystery goes a long way
8) Talent/ability is never the whole story
9) Self-reinvention is many people’s secret dream
10) Never leave home without your meat purse.
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