10 Pioneering Tech & Cultural Shifts That Were Met With Resistance.

Here’s a light read on the changes that happened and is happening in very recent history. These are some opinions of my own from observing cultures around me growing up in the 90s. In fact, many of these shifts are universal — thanks to the internet. Paying attention to these changes I believe are an incredible insight for anyone in the marketing space, an entrepreneur and anyone or brand looking to stay relevant in today’s fast evolving heavily saturated world of mass consumption. Brands like Nintendo who dominated the 90s gaming culture scene are no longer as relevant today. No where on the Apple Appstore, Google Playstore or social media do we see any of their presence. A large reason for that I believe are the fact that the leaders in that organization wanted it to be the way it was when “they” were growing up. That romanticism and disrespect of the medium we all live in today, has a lot to do with it. They failed to recognize everyone’s attention is on their mobile. With that being said, here’s a list of cultural shifts that I find intriguing and will forever be a growing list.

1. Parents who thinks kids with mobile phones were spoilt.
2. Justin Bieber circa 2012.
3. Swiping right & online dating.
4. Getting into a stranger’s car.
5. Snapchat was notorious for dick pics.
6. Mom and Dad: “why should we need Facebook”
7. Self promoting wasn’t cool and now we’ve put personal branding on a pedestal.
8. Cultural notion of getting good grades were the only way to succeed in life.
9. Actors / TV Celebrities weren’t given the same credit as “Internet Celebrities”.
10. How brands used to approach social media.

The Breakdown.

1. Parents who think kids with mobile phones were spoilt.

There was a time not too long ago where a child asking for a mobile phone was perceived to be spoilt or completely unnecessary. The narrative today is that the same child would probably be nagged by their parents for not picking up their phone. Understandably, parents would reflect their way of upbringing to their legacy. However, communication at “scale” happened anyway because it was just simply practical. Any 17 year old child today, is a lot more smarter and savvier than a 17 year old in 30 years ago. Why? Simply because of the scale of communication. Libraries would soon become archaic as Google & Facebook replaced the Yellowpages. How far is the sun from the earth? Walk to the library or do a voice search? Convenience and practicality won.

2. Justin Bieber circa 2012.

Society will always and forever judge a book by its cover. Despite the anti-saying, Instagram today is a visual platform and its where brands are allocating marketing dollars into. Justin Bieber at 2012 was 18 and plays into the peach faced boy who started an RnB rap career with pop mainstream music. That narrative of white male baby faced star with a pop song sits on culture at a time where if you’re not “hard”, you’re not cool. The same cannot be said to a 16 year old Michael Jackson for some reason. However today, in 2018, the Bieber brand is now a worldwide cultural phenomenon and ranks highly on the pulse of culture today — Instagram. The underlying take from all this shows that American culture as a whole today, puts talent, hard work and creativity on a pedestal. Very interesting cultural shift to note — fact that most artist aren’t getting the recognition today is highly due to content & distribution.

3. Swiping right & online dating.

Remember the 90s where the internet ran on classic dial up modems? There was a time where the narrative of someone who online dates is seen as weird, socially awkward, has no “game” and lives with his/her parents? Those who staunchly believes that at the time were the same person who said, “my pager was enough why buy a cellphone?” Society today has moved beyond that to a point where you literally know friends in close circles who met their spouse through “swiping.” Culture and technology shifts because its just way more practical. Remember the skepticism of even entering credit details on the net just 15 years ago?

4. Getting into a stranger’s car.

This is a good one. “Don’t talk to strangers”, “Don’t get into a strangers car” are the good old parenting advise to children. Obviously for good intent. Today, a modern parent would rather “order” a car, driven by someone whom they’ve never met to send their children to school — they trust that its safer. What changed? Travis Kalanick grew Uber into one of the most disruptive innovation to the taxi industry, and the market decided it was just way too practical not to. Uber saves us time and time is one of most valuable asset. Again, practicality and convenience won.

5. Snapchat was notorious for dick pics.

There was a time, where Snapchat was notorious among the youth in “hook up” culture. Brands and businesses didn’t know what to do with it. This was circa 2012. They say Instagram stole Snapchat’s Stories feature but unlike Instagram, Snapchat communicates in the most human way. You put up a “story” that stays only for 24 hours. Its not on the record — very much how real humans communicate. So in that nuance, a user’s psychological behavior will be different on this platform. Not to mention all the millennials sit on this demo. Where do you think a bubble gum company would put their marketing dollars to sell to 16 year olds?

6. Mom and Dad: “why should we need Facebook”.

One of the most recent cultural shifts everyone under 35 can relate to. Did you know statistically the fastest growing demographics on Facebook are 40–50 year old moms? Cougar selfies are now a thing. Back to the point, the content they consume is similar to what TV has been providing to them when they we’re native to TV and the remote control. Now they have communication at scale with relatives and friends from abroad that took away the need for postcards, long distance calls and email — and do it on their own time. Again, this all happened because it was simply just practical. And the fact that they can connect with their high school friends after 30 years? Crazy. No wonder we have friends who swears their mom is more active on Facebook than they are.

7. Self promoting wasn’t cool and now we’ve put personal branding on a pedestal.

Growing a personal brand is a twitchy term a couple years ago. Those who misunderstood gave the impression of “Oh its just another influencer. What’s he famous for? What does he actually do?”. If you think about it, its the same game all over again. The semantics change but really, its just another term for “reputation”. Building exposure on social media based on your passion that creates opportunities, is a solid relevant idea. Getting paid to around your popularity is called influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is no different than John Wayne smoking Marlboros’ on a horseback in a cowboy All-American outfit in the desert mountains. The nuances are the same, the cynical majority were just too romantic on the medium in use. Its the transition from radio to TV all over again — and I’m excited.

8. Mass cultural notion of getting good grades were the only way to succeed in life.

The 80s and 90s babies have heard these cliches one too many times. Do good in school, keep all your grades up or you will fail in life. Or at the very least, unable to land a good job. If you’re a merchant, helping a family business or starting a stall selling food were given the narrative of “oh these are the students who didn’t do well in school”. Today, many of these men and women land their names on entrepreneurial publications and chances are, they hire good performing students. So, never pander to the politically correct way to raise and nurture young talents because culture changes in decade long macros.

9. Actors / TV Celebrities weren’t given the same credit as “Internet Celebrities”.

Will Smith easily makes 8 digit millions to do a movie. However, online engagement of any top online influencer today easily trumps movie stars who aren’t on social media. In my opinion, its just ego. Will Smith started his first post on Instagram December of 2017 and at time of writing, has already 6.2M followers. An incredibly smart move to have his brand stay relevant in years to come. Why do you think Connor McGregor is the highest paid MMA fighter ever? He’s not even the best fighter! However, he is the only MMA fighter to date that puts out ungodly amounts of content online especially in the height of his career. His last fight with Floyd Mayweather was reported to have made him close to 100 million USD in 2017 — that’s BRAND. No one MMA fighter has come close to that. Yet, some struggling actors I meet today have such a weird push-back when it comes to PR-ing themselves on Instagram because they think talent alone is enough. Bruh.

10. How brands used to approach social media.

Digital agencies understand this shift the most. There was a time where digital agencies pitch ideas for social media was a met with heavy resistance as large corporations just aren’t incentivised to look for the new media or under-priced places. In many large corporate culture, a junior exec proposing an idea to a veteran CMO from the television era, has too much red tape on it. Sometimes its even deemed as cheapening the brand to market on social media. Most of the context why is due to these big name brands always play the safe route. The attention, brand, under-priced platform is now beginning to be understood by the forward thinkers of today.

Don’t buy a 1000 horses the day Henry Ford released the T-Model.

Why understanding culture and technology is important is because to win at a game of creative entrepreneurship today, finding that under-priced attention is a critical way to grow a brand at scale. Because any business would rather pay an influencer 100 dollars for a post today, instead of 5000 dollars in 5 years. Content and distribution is how brands stay relevant. Where do you think the term “soap opera” came from? Procter and Gamble sponsored creatives to create TV dramas for the television during the shift from radio to TV. It was cheap when it was new! Today we call that content marketing and we do it on social media. No wonder they’re one of the largest daily care manufacturer today because of what they started in the 30s.

Would you start a sneaker company on television broadcast today and wait for the 6pm news and wait for your sneaker commercial to air? Find that under-priced attention.