What is Cultural Stagnation?
And what does it mean for brands?
In an earlier post, The Significance of Creativity, I delved into how creativity is born from the duality of order and chaos and explored how arriving at a solution to a problem will ultimately be the cause of another. This isn’t a bad thing; it just is and is fundamental to life. With this, we understand that change isn’t just inevitable, it is also perpetual. The paradox of this duality is that the desired state of all things is stability all the while being in a constant state of flux. As a matter of survival, our stability is found in safety through predictability while we fear the unknown of chaos and disorder. We will often choose to remain in familiarity even if it ultimately affects us adversely. When this inclination is shared amongst a population, it’s cultural stagnation. Ironically, it is our exploration into the unknown that has led us to our greatest discoveries and accomplishments.
Culture is a collection of social norms and behaviours within a society including customs, laws and beliefs. They are shortcuts to establish familiarity amongst individuals for identification of like-minded people and communicating nuance in sentiment. By simplifying processes and social systems, we make life easier, therefore safer. As we strive towards our desired state of stability, we will inevitably be presented with a problem. Take for example the convenience of fast food and its role in the rising rate of obesity, or the development of the internet connecting people at an unprecedented level while contributing to us being more divisive than ever. As this strive towards balance is never ending, it is the reason why cultures also need to adapt. Cultural stagnation is the collective mindset within a society who have accepted the persistence of the problem in place of the perpetuity of change and its demand for adaptation. However, as the paradox of duality is ever-present, herein lies an opportunity for cultural growth.
“people turn to brands to establish values they want to identify with”
Often cited as a quote by Charles Darwin, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change.” is actually attributed to Leon C. Megginson who took inspiration from Darwin’s work and applied it to his own discipline. Being a professor of business at Louisiana State University he understood that this basic law of nature was also very much applicable to the survival of any business. It’s the reason why Netflix is now household while Blockbuster is nostalgia or why Fujifilm is one of the world’s leading digital camera brands while Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012 (Although it re-emerged in 2013 but with a commercial imaging focus and not competing in the space it was once the leader in).
As the purpose of any business is to fulfil the needs of its customers, it must first understand what that is, even if it’s not yet clear to the customers themselves. Branding is the personification of this. In my post The Secret Ingredient to Good Branding (and why it’s so hard to get right), I explained (don’t worry, no spoilers here) the parallels between branding and cultural evolution and why good branding is so elusive. One key takeaway is that as people turn to brands to establish values they want to identify with, brands have the responsibility to exemplify virtues that will ultimately define a culture. The success of a brand is not what it puts on shelves but rather what those products represent. Simon Sinek put it best “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe.”
Steve Jobs at the launch of the product that revolutionised the technological landscape, the first iPhone. Image: David Paul Morris/Getty Images
A key focus of brands should be to embody the virtues they wholeheartedly believe in and want their customers to aspire to and uphold. In essence, this is the space they are in and what they sell are just conduits of it. Nike is in the apparel business but what it’s really selling is empowerment (Just do it). BMW is in the automobile business but their brand is about gratification (Sheer Driving Pleasure). Apple is in tech products but what it’s really doing is enabling you to defy cultural stagnation (Think Different). These brands are cultural leaders and have achieved this status by understanding the secret to good branding: what their customers truly seek. As leadership is about enabling the full potential of others, they put the power back into the hands of their customers to take the leap and bridge the gap between problem and solution; where cultural stagnation resides.
This dynamic between brand and customer is embedded in trust and when a brand has the confidence of their customers their business becomes a continual process of opportunity leading to progress rather than problems lacking solutions. This distinction is important as the outlook is rooted in the virtues defined by the brand and when adopted by their customers, it shifts culture.
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