Can You Taste It?

Most of us will agree that we would like better curated social media feeds and email inboxes. But what role do brands play in making that happen?

Here is the quote that inspired that thought:

“Most ironically, perhaps, the more content we churn out for all these platforms, the less valuable all of our content becomes.

There is simply too much stuff.

The problem isn’t information overload so much as ‘perspective abundance.’

We may need to redefine ‘discipline’ from the ability to write and publish something every day to the ability to hold back.

What if people started to produce content when they had something to say, rather than coming up with something to say in order to fill another slot?”

This resonates automatically for individuals.

But let’s dig into what this might mean for brands…

Flat Earthers

It is harder than ever to find smaller pockets of culture, in any shape or form. Art, music, fashion, language, food and everything in between goes mainstream and middle-of-the-road so fast that it loses its nuance. But why?

Well, to quote Matt Klein:

“Over the last decade, tech platforms have come to effectively dictate taste at scale, flattening culture by algorithmic means… It’s all the same.”

What’s Next?

On Ezra Klein’s podcast, he talks with Nilay Patel, editor in chief at The Verge, about a two-speed internet. One side is filled with AI-created content (largely junk, but still consumed every day by many who either don’t know or don’t care about its provenance) and the other is more curated than before for those who are know that a healthier online diet exists.

When Good Taste Matters More

Continuing the food analogy, good taste matters more for some restaurants than others. Similarly, good taste matters more for brands that help people signal their personality (e.g. fashion and music).

We can already see services popping up to help people find out how different they are from the masses (see: Obscurify, that allows us to see how obscure our music taste is relative to others).

A lot of people won’t care enough about being different to make the effort to avoid the algorithms. But the ones who will are likely to pay more for the privilege.

Why does this matter for marketers?

It matters if you want to charge a premium for your brand, relative to competitors.

People will pay a premium if they think the product or service truly differentiates them from their peers.

If this feels relevant to your brand, think about how you can create greater scarcity, not just in terms of what you are selling but also how you are promoting it.

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Bonus Link… Is this the greatest scarcity marketing campaign of all-time?