Today is Punk for a Day Day. Punk, the great distruptor of music in the 1970s. A spirit of rebellion, doing away with the technically excellent sound of the the musicians before them. Counter culture. Revolutionary.
Disruptive.
Isn’t that what you need in your content today?
So, what if you were more punk?
What would it mean to be more punk?
The big thing for me about punk was is not just that it was disruptive. It also had energy, and creativity, and connected with a tribe of people.
So, whether you’re a punk fan or not, surely those things could be guiding words for your content? Don’t create for everyone, create for your tribe. That should stop you not being energetic or creative.
Apple are punks
I know they might not be the first company to come to mind when you talk about punks, but in many ways Apple are the ultimate punks to me. They are the great disruptors.
Earlier this week it was iPod Day. Think about the disruption there. They weren’t the first company to create MP3 players. But they certainly owned the category, thanks to thinking about a different message. Where those before them had spoken about all the technical features Apple told us that we could have 1,000 songs in our pocket.
Compared to lugging round CDs or cassettes, we were suddenly free to have a huge selection of our own music wherever we went. And we wanted that.
Innocent are punks
Do you remember a time before Innocent were in the chiller cabinets? It wasn’t a particularly exciting part of the supermarket, not particularly interesting.
Then Innocent came along, and their copy got people talking, as well as them making delicious juices. But who would have imagined you could get people talking about your product copy? But they did, by doing it differently. It was disruptive.
Just with words. What could you do?
How punk will you go?
Today might just be about being Punk for a Day, but what if you took that spirit of disruption on every day? I’m not saying shocking (although punk certainly had strong elements of that) but that positive spirit of doing it differently.
What are the “norms” for a business like yours? And what happens if you flip those norms on their head?
Maybe it doesn’t have to be every time, but have a look at your plan and work out when it might be good to keep people on their toes with something surprising. While there is comfort in the familiar, a good surprise every now and then is not really a bad thing.
Think more Christmas than Halloween.
In the meantime, I’m off to listen to some Clash, and think up some disruptive ideas. What about you? How will you take the spirit of the movement and start disrupting what people expecting from you?
