Michael Jackson is worth more dead than he was alive. Nearly bankrupt in his final days, he (well, his estate) earned nearly a billion dollars in the year after his death.

Even the comeback tour that never happened managed to make $6.5 million US in ticket sales simply because many fans wanted to keep their tickets as souvenirs.

Why is a brand like Michael Jackson able to make more dead than alive?

1. When you’re dead, you can’t screw up your brand any more. Let’s face it… Michael Jackson had managed to mangle a once-brilliant brand. Through bizarre behavior, child abuse allegations, and endless plastic surgery, Michael Jackson’s brand had faded far from his Thriller days. Once he died, there was no way he could possibly do himself any more damage.

2. When you’re dead, we realize what we lost. Despite all the oddities, Michael Jackson was a once-in-a-generation musician. He created magic. Now it is gone, and it isn’t coming back. It took losing his genius for most of us to be able to recognize it.

3. When you’re dead, supply and demand work in your favor. With nothing more to offer, everything Michael Jackson did becomes more valuable. Merchadise and souvenirs become currency.  Unreleased music from before he died becomes infinitely more valuable than it otherwise would have been.

4. When you’re dead, we get to remember you the way we want to. Michael Jackson is remembered as a quirky musical genius, not a surgically-manipulated circus sideshow. Elvis Presley is remembered as young and energetic, not bloated and pathetic. Kurt Cobain is a troubled genius, not a drug-addled wife beater. We can write our own history, thank you very much.

Think about the various products that your company makes, especially the ones that have passionate customers but limited appeal. Would these fringe products be more valuable if they were completely discontinued or released in limited or time-sensitive quantities?

If this strategy sounds crazy to you, just ask McDonald’s how they are doing with their McRib sandwich. The product was a mediocre seller from 1981 to 1985. Since 1994 McDonald’s has periodically brought McRib back for limited periods. Last November, the McRib helped boost McDonald’s monthly sales by 4.8%.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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