Joke-kill
The act of completely stripping a joke of all humor it originally possessed by trying to add something else after the telling to enhance the humor, but failing miserably. Characterized by silence and the two others present looking at each other in shock caused by the joke devastation. Also known by some in the Charelston SC area as “Jones-ing it”
—Urban Dictionary
You have that person in mind, now, who possesses an uncanny knack for making a good joke not funny; a skill honed by a consistent habit of taking things too far. And like an unfortunate cocktail-party offender, brands have been known to fall culprit too. In the digital age, there are unlimited opportunities for brands to connect with a wide and diverse audience, opening them up to an equally infinite number of opportunities for brands to appear to the world as that guy.
Keeping up with the latest trends has always been important to marketing. But as with a good joke, timing is everything.
In the latest slew of communication faux pas, brands are catching a lot of flack for jumping on the “bae” bandwagon. The craze is a prime example of a case where marketers should lead the conversation, not follow it. As personalization becomes second nature for brands, the trick will be staying ahead of the trends, not simply repeating an old joke.
Everybody knows BAE really means bacon and eggs. #Stouffers #truth pic.twitter.com/1B1TRBplQW
— STOUFFER’S (@stouffers) November 6, 2014
A&W Root Beer is bae. pic.twitter.com/fHtmQefBfv — A&W Restaurants (@awrestaurants) October 21, 2014
Bae is only bae if bae is down for #TOSTITOS chips & dips. #BringTheParty
— Tostitos (@Tostitos) July 29, 2014
Baes on Baes
So here we are now. Brands have taken hold of “bae,” a word popularly synonymous with girlfriends, friends and the otherwise intermittent sidepiece. Bae–babe–has come a long way since early injections into pop culture. (Have you seen the video by Pharrell and Miley Cyrus?) Although the origins of the word are still undetermined and largely inconclusive, the term has been around for a while and, for better or for worse, is experiencing a bit of a renaissance.
Social media has opened up the opportunity for brands to miss the mark with marketing efforts by taking a trend too far. The bae craze appears to be a repeatedly misguided attempt for brands to connect with millennials. The buzzy demographic purportedly consumes media at a rate faster than any segment before them–in order for messaging to resonate, brands can’t afford to follow along.
Brands should keep in mind that while they should never have to say “get it,” they should try to steer clear of being accused of continuing a never-ending story. As we look ahead, corporations will have to become more sophisticated in their efforts and invest in individual-focused tools to understand their customers on an personal level. Armed with deep customer insights and the tools to stitch social data with customer database information, the marketers of the future will be able to communicate with their audiences on a peer-to-peer basis for more effective campaigns.
Millennials are constantly looking to find the next big thing. It’s up to brands to understand the unique individuals within their audience well enough in order to give them exactly what they want.
If that isn’t bae, I don’t know what to tell you.
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