I spent two weeks in the Caribbean over the holidays, listening to a lot of reggae music. My personal favorite is Bob Marley.

Bob Marley came from nothing.

He was born in total poverty in the village called Nine Mile up in the hills of Jamaica, and raised in the Trench Town district of Kingston.

In the 1970s, as Marley’s popularity soared, Trench Town became an all-out war zone sparked by divisive politics, drugs, and corruption.

Yet despite violence and poverty, Trench Town produced some of the greatest music Jamaica has ever known. Not only did Bob Marley emerge from the famous “government yards in Trench Town”, but so did many of his “Wailers”, including Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. To this day Trench Town is famous as the birthplace of rocksteady and reggae music.

Despite coming from absolutely nothing, Bob Marley became a music legend, cultural icon, and modern-day philosopher.

So many great rock stars came from poverty-striken and broken homes, includingElvis, Springsteen, Jay-Z, and Hendrix.

You don’t need power, money, political pull, job security, or corporate influence to be a rock star.

Being a rock star is a choice.

You can chose to create something truly memorable, something game changing, something meaningful… or you can chose to be average and watch the world go by.

Bob Marley chose to speak from his heart and make music that reflected his personal feelings, his religious beliefs, and his cultural heritage. He chose to change the lives of people around him in a positive and powerful way.

If you decide to sit and wait for the right time, circumstance, financial situation, and political climate to “rock”, you’ll be waiting a long, long time.

I think you should choose to rock instead.

Forget about your circumstances and forget about your excuses. Wake up and start rockin’.

With one click right here you can order Brand Like A Rock Star: Lessons From Rock ‘n’ Roll To Make Your Business Rich and Famous. It is a step by step guide to creating a powerful brand that rocks using the core marketing strategies of the bands and singers you love.

Jimi Hendrix made plenty of money in his too-short life, but he didn’t set his guitars on fire each night because it sold concert tickets or albums.

Last year U2 created the most profitable tour in music history, but profit is not why they did the 360 tour.

Bob Dylan is a millionaire many times over. But that’s not why he sang “Blowin’ In The Wind“.

Nearly every piece of great music was made because of a passion for creating, engaging, entertaining, connecting, and communicating.

Business is no different.

When business is done right, it is driven by a powerful passion and belief held by a person or company. The profits may flow, but they are seldom the mission themselves.

Can you imagine someone calling insurance sales a “noble profession” on par with a doctor?

According to insurance expert Michael Jans of Agency Revolution, it is. In this short video called “The Principle of Belief”, Michael explains how insurance sales, when done right, is all about protecting people. It isn’t about taking their money or selling them things they don’t need. The powerful passion and belief behind rock star insurance agents is a passion and belief that they can help protect people and help put their lives back together in times of tragedy, difficulty, or disaster.

What passionate belief makes your business a noble profession?

The owner of a pool store who passionately wants to bring people together, create lifelong memories, and celebrate summer.

The advertising sales person who passionately wants to help businesses gain more customers and thrive, even in a difficult economy.

The mechanic who passionately wants to help people safely get their families home every evening without any stress.

All of them will, long term, put their short-term cash grabbing competitors out of business.

Because it all comes down to caring, passionately, about your customer’s needs, and building your business around that passion.

Order Brand Like A Rock Star now and start building a better business right away.

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Some topical and somewhat random thoughts today.

First, if you haven’t already downloaded chapter one of Brand Like a Rock Star, wait no longer. It is a free pdf that you can read and share with others. You can grab it instantly here.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of joining 16,000 other Parrotheads at Jimmy Buffett’s Toronto concert. Only KISS rivals Buffett in terms of inspiring visible brand loyalty among fans. You must have a powerful brand to inspire grown men to don grass skirts and coconut bras! It was rare to see someone at the Jimmy Buffett concert who wasn’t at least sporting a colorful tropical shirt. Even the parking lot was a party, as Buffett fans openly defied Canada’s normally restrictive laws against American-style tailgate parties. Such rebellion!

The Buffett brand connects with people in a meaningful way because it touches our very primal need to play.  It frees up our inner-child. It is a brand built on silliness, immaturity, relaxation, and pure uninhibited fun.

Maybe your brand isn’t built on immature fun, but your odds of success go way up when you connect with an emotional need within your customers. Forming an emotional bond is way more powerful than always trying to offer the lowest price. Customers coming to you to have an emotional need satisfied d0n’t really care much about price.

Speaking of emotions, what accounts for apparent emotional angst one encounters in their 27th year?

Brian Jones. Jimi Hendrix. Jim Morrison. Janis Joplin. Kurt Cobain.  Now add Amy Winehouse to the sad list. It is tragic to lose so many people to the powerful demons of addiction, fame, and depression.

On one hand, it is easy to wonder what incredible music could have been made had these tortured geniuses lived longer lives.

On the other, it is interesting to consider how their deaths impacted our perception of their music. Faced with the prospect of never hearing any new music from Hendrix or Cobain, do we naturally worship their music on a higher altar? Does the value of their catalog of music go up simply because they are gone?

There’s no doubt that a lack of supply can increase demand. For example, I wouldn’t have worried about missing an episode of “Entourage” back in season 3, but with this season being the final one, there is no way I will miss a single moment. The reality of no more new episodes (diminishing supply) has increased my urgency to watch (higher demand).

Finally, thank you for the ongoing support. The official book release of Brand Like a Rock Star is a little over two months away. It wouldn’t be happening without you!  Our little network of readers continues to grow, and I would be tremendously grateful if you would consider forwarding this to any of your friends who love music, marketing, advertising, PR, and branding.

Let’s also connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/brandlikearockstar.

Thanks!
Steve

Valentine’s Day… the perfect day for a reminder about how much brands should be deeply in love with music.

Music is a magic potion. It is a back-door entrance into the mind of your customer. Using music, you can bypass the logical and analytical left side of the brain, and enter into their consciousness through the mystical and musical right side of the brain.

Things you would never say in public can be heard every day in song.

“Hey Joe, I said where you going with that gun in your hand?
I’m going down to shoot my old lady.
You know I caught her messin’ around with another man.”
- Jimi Hendrix

“But she never lost her head, even when she was giving head.
She said hey babe… take a walk on the wild side.”
- Lou Reed

“Ahh Who the f**k are you?”
- The Who

During the 1984 presidential election campaign, Republican Ronald Reagan contacted Bruce Springsteen about possibly using “Born In The USA” as a campaign theme song. Springsteen, a well-known liberal, said no. One has to wonder why Reagan’s people would ask about using a song that is sung from the point of view of a returning Vietnam veteran who is clearly bitter and angry toward the disappearing American dream.

“Born down in a dead man’s town. The first kick I took is when I hit the ground.
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much, ’til you spend half your life trying to cover it up.”

Music is magic. All Bruce Springsteen had to do was scream “Born in the USA” at the top of his lungs and those who wanted to hear a pro-American anthem heard it. The bitter undertones were heard, but hidden. The lyrics embedded themselves in the mind of the listener but never revealed their motives. That’s music at work.

Today a lot of people will be singing love songs to each other. For rock star brands, any song that gives you a secret entrance into your customer’s psyche is a love song.

If you enjoyed this post and are passionate about music and business, please consider subscribing to Brand Like A Rock Star by email. I only publish once or twice a week on average and will never share your contact info. You can also subscribe by RSS feed using the button on the upper right portion of the page.

If you are passionate about music and business, get Brand Like A Rock Star updates by email.

What do I have to do to get you to subscribe to Brand Like A Rock Star by e-mail? How about free copies of my book? When it comes out, I’ll be giving away free copies to random people who subscribe via -email. Just a way of saying thanks for the on-going contribution.

Next month, a new posthumous album of Jimi Hendrix music will be released called “Valleys of Neptune“.  The title track is already out and stirring up plenty of interest.  The song was recorded in various parts in 1969 and 1970 but was never completed, at least to the point where Jimi felt it was worthy of a release, before he died.  The unfinished song had been circulating amongst hard-core collectors for years in various states of completion.

Regardless of what side of the love it/hate it debate you fall into, the timing couldn`t be better for the Hendrix brand.

Days after the song was released, word leaked that `Rock Band: Hendrix`is on the way.  Janie Hendrix, Jimi`s stepsister and controller of his estate, told the LA Times to expect the Hendrix Rock Band to be out by the end of the year.

Remember what The Beatles Rock Band did for their brand last fall?

Rock star brands are masters of working the clock in their favor.  They know their customers, their habits and tastes, and they also understand the concept of a “news cycle” and time their announcements accordingly.

Apple has made an art form out of product release announcements.  They keep intense secrecy, release vague details, and plant conflicting stories.  When the announcement comes, it is like attending a rock concert.

Movie releases are timed to reach the widest possible audience, compete against a favorable field of other new releases, and maximize and actor’s popularity.

Rock star brands make timing a priority.

1.  Are your launches and product releases planned on your schedule, or your customers’ schedule?

2.  Do you know your competitors’ plans for PR?  Do you plan accordingly?  Are you prepared to block any strong competitive move with one of our own, a la Sun-Tzu?

3.  Do you time your product launches, evolutions, and announcements in order to maximize momentum within your company?  You can have an impact on employee morale, recruitment, and even your stock price.

4. What do you do to make your next-big-thing seriously big?  Cutting through the clutter out there today is nearly impossible if you do what is expected of you.  The usual doesn’t get noticed in 2010.

If you are passionate about music and business, get Brand Like A Rock Star updates by email.

I drive a Jeep. I have, for most of my life, owned one kind of Jeep or another.

It started with a 1979 CJ-5. It was a big, mean, off-road machine.

When our first was born, my wife made me sell the old CJ-5. Apparently 35 inch tires and a soft top wasn’t going to work with a car seat. So we bought a ’94 Cherokee that served us well.

Next was a Jeep Liberty. It was black with bad-ass fog lamps on top that only got used once, when we needed extra light for a street hockey game that extended into the evening.

When we lived in the Caribbean, we went for the classic Wrangler soft-top. I bought it used, and the previous owner of this particular Jeep was fantatical about dolphins. So much so, that she had them painted on the side and the hood. I bought the Jeep thinking I would have the dolphins painted over, but never got around to it. Promise to never use this picture against me… seriously. As a man and a Jeep owner this picture is highly disturbing.

Back on the mainland a few years ago we bought a Jeep Patriot with nice leather heated seats and a sunroof. No sea-dwelling mammals. And we loved it, but it just didn’t feel “Jeep” enough for me.

So now I am driving a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Four doors, two tops, and all the off-road capability of the original. Doubtful I’ll ever drive it on anything more challenging than a dirt road, but still good to have.

What’s my point?

The cars we drive say things about our personalities. Seth Godin, in All Marketers Are Liars, would say that the car we drive reinforces the lie we choose to believe about ourselves. Driving a Jeep reminds me that I’m adventurous, take the road less traveled, and don’t want to have myself confined by a roof. I might never actually go off-road in my off-road truck, but I like to think I’m the kind of person who goes off the beaten path.

Music is the same. It helps define you… and your brand.

Do you think Lennon was the true genius behind the Beatles, or was it McCartney?

Are you a Stones person or a Beatles person?

Where were you when you found out Kurt Cobain died? John Lennon? Jimi Hendrix?

Did you go see “Mama Mia” because you wanted to, or because she wanted you to go?

Which early 80′s British band was better: Duran Duran or Iron Maiden?

Does “Seasons In The Sun” make you reflective, or nauseous?

Did you think Alanis Morissette circa 1995 was angry and scorned, or just bitchy and whiny?

Although these questions are personal, it is a very cool exercise to put them to your company or product.

What song would be your brand’s theme song? Who would you get to sing it?

What concert venue would your brand play, Bonnaroo or Radio City Music Hall?

When your brand plays live, do girls flash their breasts or flash their camera phones?

Using these human terms can really help you define your brand.

You won’t ever market yourself in those terms, but by defining your brand in human terms you start to give your brand qualities that people can identify with and relate to.  People don’t bond with corporations or mission statements or companise. We bond with other people, who share similar values and experiences.

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