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Think your industry changes fast?

Picture yourself as Kip Winger (above), leader of band Winger. It is early 1991. You’ve just come off a 13-month tour in which you played sold-out stadiums around the world with bands like KISS, The Scorpions, and ZZ Top. You’ve watched your hit songs get played to death on MTV. And you’ve been nominated as “Best Heavy Metal Group” at the American Music Awards. Pretty cool.

And then, without warning, along comes Nevermind. And the bottom falls out.

The debut album from Nirvana in September of 1991 was the breakthrough album of the grunge era, and seemingly overnight Winger’s forte – big hair, leather, slick guitar solos, polished production, and rousing choruses about sex and girls – went dramatically out of style.

Winger didn’t do anything to deserve it.

Neither did Poison, Extreme, Warrant, or Skid Row. It just happened.

With the rapid rise of grunge music and its emotionally draining angst, distorted guitars, and low key visuals, all of the so-called hair bands became immediately passe.

Rock ‘n’ roll is a world of perpetual change.

Songs end and new ones begin. Tours go city to city, different shows each night. Albums rise and fall down the chart. Nothing is constant.

You either adapt or die, in business as in rock ‘n’ roll.

The hair bands, for the most part, died. Some tried to alter their sound, but even Guns N Roses and Van Halen fell apart within a few years.

Here are four lessons you can learn from the hair bands and their early 90s demise:

1. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do. If you are great at hair band rock, and hair band rock goes out of style, you can’t easily become a grunge act. The perceptions of you are realities. Changing minds is nearly impossible.

2. Even when you aren’t in style, your fans didn’t just disappear. There are still people out there who want to hear your songs! So entertain them. Forget about past success and focus on making your customers happy. Even when the tide turned against gas-guzzling SUVs, there were still customers who wanted to buy a Navigator instead of a Prius.

3. Wait it out. If you can afford to wait out the fads, you might just come back into style. This summer KISS and Motley Crue are on tour together. Many of the big hair bands of the 1980s are still playing for fans and making a great living doing it. Even though the hair band isn’t today’s big thing, it is not nearly as uncool as it was in 1991.

4. Popularity and talent are not related. When his band faded from popularity, Kip Winger studied classical music. He worked on solo projects. And he wrote a 30 minute symphonic piece that because the musical centerpiece for the San Francisco Ballet’s hit production of “Ghosts”. Without the trappings of immense fame, Kip Winger found immense freedom.

Rock on!

It is one of the biggest challenges facing both rock bands and great brands: how do you maintain your cool vibe as you grow and become more mainstream?

Trader Joe’s grocery stores and Nirvana can both relate the these growing pains.

Trader Joe’s, for the uninitiated, is a cool and quirky grocery chain famous for low-cost and high-quality food. Over 80% of their stock is private-label. Their stores have a homey neighborhood feel and their staff exudes a fun and easy-going nature. But over the past decade, the company has expanded from a few stores in the southwestern US to over 360 stores in 29 states across America. The LA Times recently documented the challenges Trader Joe’s faces as they attempt to grow and modernize while still preserving the classic elements of their stores that their customers love so much. 

Nirvana fought the same battle following the unexpected massive success of their debut album Nevermind.  Nirvana had to please two sets of fans; their hard-core original alternative fans who loved the band’s underground sound, and a new (and very large) set of fans who discovered the band because of their commercial success. How did they turn the follow-up, In Utero, into a success in the eyes of both groups?

1. They created an album that included elements to please both sides of the spectrum. Kurt Cobain promised that the album would go to more extremes, containing raw material that was even more raw than Nevermind and pop material that was even poppier than Nevermind.  Cobain was sending the message that the band would do what it wanted to do, not what a record company or the fans wanted them to do.

2. Nirvana included the song “Rape Me” on the album, which forced retailers like Walmart and K-Mart to take a stand and refuse to sell the album. MTV also asked the band not to sing “Rape Me” at their awards show. Having push-back from Walmart, K-Mart, and MTV was ideal for the band’s alternative image.

3. Unlike most bands, Nirvana didn’t release any radio singles from In Utero.  The record company sent advance copies of the song “Heart-Shaped Box” to college, alternative, and rock radio stations, but intentionally didn’t target Top 40 radio stations. By leaving mainstream commercial radio stations out of the the loop, they demonstrated to their fans that they were not neccesarily interested in reaching those fans.

The album In Utero went on to sell over four million copies in the US and 10 million worldwide, and was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The new book Brand Like A Rock Star uses lessons from rock ‘n’ roll to help make your business more successful. From Nirvana to AC/DC, U2, Bob Marley, KISS, and many others, you’ll learn actionable ways to put the core marketing strategies of rock legends to work to build your brand. You can buy the book now right here and either download the Kindle version or have it delivered by tomorrow. If you’d like to read Chapter One first, download it here. And don’t forget to grab a free ebook, the Musical Companion, to take you deeper into the music profiled in the book.

Here’s Nirvana giving the establishment the middle finger after being told they couldn’t play “Rape Me” at the MTV Video Music Awards.

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Earlier this week, we looked at the real estate field and how the principles in Brand Like A Rock Star can be put to real-world use. Toady, we’ll check out how to make them work in restaurant branding. Later in the week we’ll look at branding a country and examine the re-branding efforts of a Caribbean island in need of more tourists.

So my wife and I have been sucked into the NBC reality show America’s Next Great Restaurant. I think I’m a sucker for business/branding reality shows like this and Shark Tank, although in general I don’t watch reality TV.

Here are three of the Brand Like A Rock Star principles put into action in the food industry:

Chipotle is an example of a restaurant that took two things we already understood, and combined them to create something new. We all understood the idea of locally-sourced foods, organic and sustainable farming, and health-conscious cooking. We all also understood the concept of burritos and tacos. Chipotle created an entirely new kind of restaurant by bringing together two things we already understood, and gave us “Food with Integrity”.

2. Great brands, and great bands, focus on being amazing at one thing.  AC/DC is, and always has been, a fun, hard-rockin’ band that sings straight ahead songs about drinkin’, drivin’, partyin’, and gettin’ it on. They have never sang about the angst of a relationship falling apart or the perils of those in the third world trapped by political dictatorships. They are simple and focused, and we all understand exactly what we are getting when we buy a ticket to an AC/DC concert.

Canadian restaurant Cora’s is open for breakfast and lunch, and then they close. They aren’t a 24-hour breakfast place like Denny’s. They lock the doors and turn out the lights after lunch. Would they make more money if they had a dinner menu and kept the doors open for a few more hours? Maybe, but then they wouldn’t be unique. They wouldn’t have their distinct platform to stand on. Cora’s is quickly becoming top-of-mind for breakfast and brunch in Canada, and if they were open the same hours as every other restaurant they would lose that position and be just another restaurant.

3. It isn’t just about the food, it is about the experience you offer.  I could have seen Paul McCartney play any number of concerts last summer, but I chose to see him play in Hyde Park in London because it felt special to see a former Beatle play an outdoor concert in this legendary location. While the music was important, it quickly became secondary to the overall sensory experience. In fact, the high point for me was joining 50,000 others in singing the “Na Na Na” chorus of  ”Hey Jude” as we made our way past Speaker’s Corner and across crowded Oxford Street to the tube station.

So many of the Rock Star principles can be easily applied to branding restaurants. It is such a competitive and cut-throat industry that building a strong brand is a matter of life or death to a new restaurant.

On Friday we’ll look at the re-branding efforts of the Cayman Islands, a tiny Caribbean outpost in need of more tourists, and see if the Brand Like A Rock Star concepts stand up when branding entire countries.

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That first product launch is exciting, energizing, and spectacular.  Your enthusiasm is contagious.  You’ve spent your whole life, or at the very least a large part of it, getting ready to launch.

And after a few months, you start to wonder “what next”?

Brands that successfully endure for years and decades think beyond the next six or twelve months.  Change is a part of their corporate culture. They thrive on the uncomfortable feeling that change brings. They always ask “what’s next?”

MySpace started losing groud to Facebook.  What’s next?  Myspace evolved into one of the world’s leading sites for musicians and artists.

Apple spent decades with just 10% of the personal computer market.  What’s next?  Apply grew into the world’s biggest music retailer.

Sure some attempts at evolution fail. McPizza, New Coke, and Star Trek “Nemesis” are three examples.  But those are spectacular failures from brands that today remain incredibly strong in large part because they were willing to risk failure in order to evolve.

The McDonald’s pizza experiment failed miserably.  But their recent growth into healthier foods with a wider variety of menu items has rebounded the company in the past few years.  And their adventure into breakfast food gave them the wildly successful Egg McMuffin.

New Coke was a legendary disaster, yet the Coke brand – despite almost ludicrious line extension – remains the #1 cola brand on the planet.

Star Trek “Nemesis” in 2002 was the lowest-grossing and most poorly reviewed movie in the series.  Yet the Star Trek movie from last spring was a massive hit.  It has already made three times more money than any previous Star Trek movie.  But this one wasn’t like the other Trek movies.  William Shatner wasn’t invited.  Niether was Captain Picard.  And director JJ Abrams took a fresh approach to the story.  That’s a risk that paid off.

Winning brands are willing to fail, because failure means you are doing something, and doing something means you are growing.  If you’re smart and calculated, you’ll make more wise moves than mistakes.  And if you’re really wise, you’ll know when to pull the plug on mistakes and cut your losses.

It is the unwise who become stale because they were afraid of change. Change and evolution is too frightening and uncomfortable for some brands.  They don’t understand the warning from Neil Young in 1979, when his career was fading.  He felt his music was becoming irrelevant, and he wrote song about the dangers of recording the same type of music too much.

“My My, Hey Hey… It’s better to burn out, than to fade away.”

Neil was willing to go down in flames.  He took a risk and recorded a song that took his career into punk and grunge music, and recorded a song that influenced the careers of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and a subsequent generation of musicians.  It turned his sagging career around.

So if you think it is the right thing to do, and you can do it in the name of evolution and greater success, then go ahead… risk burning out. It sure beats fading into obscurity.

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

You drew them on your notebooks and pencil cases.

Their posters adorned your bedroom walls.

In the 70′s and 80′s, having a great logo was simply part of being a great band. Today a great logo is a bit of a lost art in the music business, probably in large part because a downloaded song doesn’t come with an album sleeve or cassette insert to showcase the artwork. Some contemporary acts use a logo or consistent font to build their brand, but not to the degree that bands did a few years ago.

The AC/DC logo was created in 1976 by graphic artist Gerard Huerta for the cover of the band’s album “Let There Be Rock”. The gothic logo has been part of the band’s visual image ever since, and has inspired many band logos since.

Van Halen’s logo features the stylized VH with wings and visually represents the energy of the band perfectly. Great band logos are able to visually represent audio. It has lasted through three lead singers… David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, Gary Cherone, and David Lee Roth again.

Quite possibly the most recognizable band logo on earth is this one, created for the Rolling Stones in 1971. The band had already been well established for 8 years before this logo came along, yet today it feels like the logo has been with the band since day one. The lips and tongue logo does a perfect job of capturing the raunchy irreverence of the band.

There are few fonts as distinct as the famous KISS logo, designed by guitarist Ace Frehley in 1973. The logo was part of the band’s unique strategy of bringing major theatrics to the rock stage with make-up, costumes, and extreme pyrotechnics. The font used for the SS part of the logo invoked Nazi lettering, an association that the band has consistently denied. But even in denial, the rumors contributed to the band’s anti-establishment reputation.

Love or hate their music, there aren’t many bands who have made as good use out of a logo and mascot as Iron Maiden. The British heavy metal band created “Eddie” for their first album. Eddie evolved from a mask to a full character, and was often portrayed in violent scenes on the band’s album covers, on stage, and later in video games. Eddie, along with the Iron Maiden font, became a visual touchstone to the band’s unique sound.

There are too many band logos to list them all. Alternative acts in the 90′s created their own fonts, including Metallica, Nirvana, Green Day, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Progressive rock bands like Yes and Asia created logos that matched their image.

Sixties bands like the Grateful Dead, The Who, and The Beatles created iconic logos.

What band do you think had the best logo in rock ‘n roll history?

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Updated: April 5, 2011, on the 17th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain.

Where were you when you first heard Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”? If you’re under 40, chances are good you can remember that moment.

I was a young radio DJ working the night shift on an AM top 40 station in Kitchener, Ontario. It was a Friday night, or more precisely Saturday morning. The songs I was to play were on a playlist chosen for my by the Program Director. Like most late night DJ’s, I knew damn well the Program Director was asleep for most of my shift, but I still tried to keep to the playlist as much as possible. At least until 3 or 4am, when I could be certain he was out for the night.

After playing “OPP” by Naughty By Nature, I put a CD I hadn’t seen before into the player. It was just another song on my playlist. In no way was I prepared for what happened when I pushed “play” on that CD.

The moment that opening riff ripped through the late night AM airwaves, I was keenly aware that I was hearing something truly different. And I had the amazing pleasure of sharing it with thousands (or at least dozens) of listeners.

Almost 20 years later, the impact of Nirvana’s arrival cannot be understated. It was a song/album/band that kicked hair metal out of the room and established angst as a reasonable emotion. It gave musical voice to a generation that had been searching for one and not finding it in the rock of the day, which was pretty much all about girls, booze, and cars. Nobody was speaking to a generation growing up in the shadows of the boomers, raised in the “me” decade, left to wonder what would be left of the world when our selfish predecessors were done with it.

Nirvana – and the movement they were part of – sang about reality. They were angry, confused, uncertain, proud, and ready to talk about it.

But if the music Nirvana made was THAT groundbreaking, how did it hit mainstream culture so quickly?

Nirvana delivered something unexpected within an expected framework. The band gave us a sound that surprised and shocked us, yet they did it with familiar chords and harmonies that we had heard somewhere before.

Kurt Cobain himself said “We got attention because our songs have hooks, which stick in people’s minds”.

The songs on “Nevermind” were unlike any other songs on the radio in 1991. Yet they were absolutely full of simple pop music hooks. Songs like “Come As You Are” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” are almost formulaic in their use of memorable hooks.

Kurt also realized that he was doing something nobody else was doing. He was mixing two kinds of familiar sounds that hadn’t really been mixed together before. “It wasn’t cool to play pop music as a punk band”, he said, “And I wanted to mix the two.”

According to the band’s founder, Nirvana played pop music as a punk band.

We had all heard pop music, laden with hooks that stuck in your brain for days.

We had all heard punk bands, angry and loud and far from hook-filled.

But most of us had never, ever heard pop music played by a punk band.

That was part of the musical briliance of Nirvana. They presented conflicting sounds, yet brought them together in a familar sound.

When the brain heard Nirvana for the first time, it was shocked by the bizarre combination of two known elements. You couldn’t help but notice Nirvana because their music was so different. But the brain was also very familiar with pop and punk, and was able to reconcile the two sounds into a new sound.

Like Reece’s Peanut Butter cups! Everyone has tasted peanut butter, and everyone has tasted chocolate. But when Reece’s Peanut Butter cups combined the two, our brains were forced to reconcile them together into an entirely new product.

If you are ever in Winnipeg, try the Chili Chocolate Chicken at Fude Restaurant. We’ve all tasted chocolate. We’ve all tasted chicken. But most of us have never tasted the combination of seared chicken, slathered in a house made dark chocolate sauce off set with spicy cayenne cream and chilies.

Conficting ideas awake the brain.

Putting them in a familiar context makes the unfamiliar easier to digest.

Another reason that Nirvana was successful was because thay aligned themselves with Geffen Records, an established record company at the time. Geffen provided the unknown quantity (Nirvana and grunge music) with a spokesperson (the record label that released albums by Don Henley, Elton John, Donna Summer, John Lennon, Whitesnake, Guns N’ Roses, and Aerosmith). That’s a pretty cool combination of avant-garde music and mainstream promotion. By aligning themselves with Geffen Records, Nirvana was given instant credibility and access to a massive promotional machine to get their music heard.

Here’s what I think Kurt Cobain and Nirvana can teach us in terms of branding:

1. Surprise customers with something unusual, but put it in context that is easily understood. Just like people tell you a new food “tastes like chicken”, allow your customer to find a point of reference for your new innovation. James Dyson created a bag-less vacuum cleaner. He didn’t need to call it a vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaners have bags. This was something entirely new. But by calling it a bagless vacuum cleaner, he put it into context so that it was easily understood.

2. Align yourself with a winner who can give you something you don’t already have. Nirvana signed with Geffen Records, and as a result their new sound was given immediate exposure. They had priority access to the ears of influential radio programmers and trend-starters. Although signing with a mainstream record label may have risked them losing some alternative credibility, it gave them incredible access to an audience.

3. Don’t be afraid to buck the trends. In the midst of the hair band dominance of the late 1980′s, Nirvana emerged with a raw energy unlike any other band. They didn’t sing about the typical topics in typical ways. They broke with tradition. The offended some ears. But as Roy Williams brilliantly stated, “the risk of offense is the price of clarity.” Nirvana broke through and got noticed because they risked offending the mainstream by being different. Clarity was the result.

If only Kurt Cobain wasn’t such a troubled soul. His voice is very much missed.

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Today Pearl Jam reissued their vintage album “Ten”, including remastered songs, unreleased material, a concert DVD, and the album on vinyl.

When you look back at the past two decades, it is hard to fathom that Pearl Jam was initially labeled as an alternative rock sell-out by Kurt Cobain. In the early days of the grunge explosion, Cobain lashed out at Pearl Jam because of their classic rock influences.

Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain reconciled before Cobain’s death, and Pearl Jam went on to embody the alternative spirit both on stage and off.

It is pretty easy to see the model of consistency that Pearl Jam has been in terms of music. They have always taken on new directions, but always returned to their core sound. They have never strayed so far from the expectations of their fans that they would risk losing them. But it is Pearl Jam’s off-stage dedication to living up to those expectations that provides brilliant lessons for business.

Being an “alternative” band comes with a heavy label. It is nearly impossible to be alternative while simultaneously making record companies, ticket agencies, venues, merchandisers, and others filthy rich in the process. Pearl Jam nearly broke up under that pressure.

But they didn’t. They lived up to the label. They rejected making Ticketmaster rich. First, they put a cap on ticket prices, and eventually refused to play concerts in venues where Ticketmaster issued tickets. The result was several years in which it was nearly impossible for the band to tour in America, resulting in lower sales of their CD’s. Eventually, after a failed anti-trust lawsuit and under pressure from fans, Pearl Jam returned to playing Ticketmaster venues. Would Pearl Jam have made more money by cooperating with Ticketmaster all along? Absolutely. But standing up for the fans was important to Pearl Jam.

Since long before it was fashionable, Pearl Jam has allowed fans to record their concerts, making their own “official bootlegs”. In 2000, they took that concept a step further and recorded every show on their tour professionally. The plan was to provide them to their fan club members, but their record company contract prevented it. So instead, Pearl Jam took the groundbreaking step of releasing every concert on their tour as a live album. In 2000 and 2001, Pearl Jam released a total of 72 live albums. Would they have made more money releasing one live album? Almost certainly. Yet that commitment to doing right by the fans, even at the band’s expense, that was vital to Pearl Jam.

The band’s debut album “Ten” included the song “Jeremy”, and the video for that song won “Video of the Year” and “Best Group Video” at the MTV Video Awards in 1993. It would be one of the last music videos Pearl Jam would ever make. Despite immense record company pressure to release videos and singles, Pearl Jam refused. The band has also regularly forced their record company to release its albums on vinyl as well as CD, even though the profit margins on the vinyl releases have been non-existent for years. Could Pearl Jam have gotten filthy rich and famous by releasing singles and videos like every other band? Definitely. Yet by not doing the expected and usual, Pearl Jam struck a chord with their fans, who remain with them today. Pearl Jam has managed to get filthy rich their own way.

High concert ticket prices aren’t the only cause that Pearl Jam has supported. Since the beginning they have been socially active, supporting Crohn’s Disease research, pro-choice causes, and the environment. The band spoke out against US President George W. Bush, supported the Green Party, and played charity concerts in support of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, United Nations efforts against world hunger, and the memory of those lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Did they need to potentially alienate fans of differing opinions by being vocal in support of causes they believe in? Definitely not. But they chose to, because part of being alternative is speaking out.

Pearl Jam has wisely realized that in order to create a group of passionate fans, you need to get noticed… to stand out… to be different. That might get you in trouble now and then, and it will certainly result in some people not liking you.

But those actions reinforced the image that Pearl Jam was cultivating as a truly alternative band. With every decision they endeared themselves to fans who felt the same way; that record companies and ticket agencies were ripping them off, that big oil companies were polluting the earth, and that children shouldn’t go to bed hungry at night.

Business lessons from Pearl Jam:

1. Exceed the expectations of your customers.
2. Stand up for what you believe in, especially if it gets you noticed.
3. Bravely abandon old-world rules and set your own course.
4. Passionately align yourself with causes that fit your image.
5. Be consistent in everything you do.

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