What brands can learn from subcultures

We live in an age where, despite the growing antipathy of consumers towards advertising, more and more brands are afraid to stand out from category conventions, blending into the background. Have we forgotten the lessons in disruption, distinctiveness and - sometimes - polarisation that subcultures can teach us?

Inspired by our Mettle 'Power Up What You Do' campaign, we share tips on how brands can harness the motivations of their audiences and channel them through emotional, cultural and creative lenses, to talk to their consumers in a way that none of their competitors do.

1.     Disrupt category norms

For Mettle, the business banking brand for the self-employed, category norms were heroing the entrepreneur or celebrating the founder. If we wanted to stand out we needed to push away from this. We knew from research with our audience that this was not how they saw themselves.

2.     Know your tribe

On the surface, Mettle’s audience couldn’t be more disparate and diverse. From freshwater fisherman to plasterers, the audience spans a huge range of ages. But by understanding their drivers and attitudes we learnt that something more powerful united them; their commitment, hunger and drive to earn. 

3.     Seek the unexpected 

For brands in categories where the tropes are established and expected, subcultures are powerful in helping build a totally unexpected brand universe and language. Stepping into the universe of grunge metal allowed us to reflect the attitude and energy of our audience  in a way that transcends profession, age or background - all while pushing away from the idea of the side-hustler which no longer resonated in a cost of living crisis.

4.     Commit creatively

To truly embrace subculture in an authentic way, every decision has to be treated as an opportunity to be singular, specific and distinctive. The campaign was shot with a director who makes this stuff for real, with bands like titans Bring Me the Horizon. We synced an up and coming British metal brand. Nothing about what we did was the done thing in the world of banking. 

5.     Don’t try and please everyone 

Our creative output was loud, visceral and raw. Ultimately, capturing an energy that reflected the spirit of our audience in a way nothing else could.  Agencies and clients are too often led by the pursuit of work that pleases everyone - at the risk of engaging no one - we encourage more people to revisit the words of the late Bill Bernbach: “If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you and nobody for you.”

Still don’t see the potential of polarising campaigns? We asked Kate Thunnissen, Chief Marketing Officer of NatWest Boxed and Mettle, why she feels bravery is rewarded in marketing. Following strong results off the back of the Power Up What You Do campaign, Mettle recently reallocated spend originally apportioned to performance, to upweight another media burst of brand building instead. Hear more from Kate about this below....

Q. A heavy metal banking ad. To many this might feel like a brave decision. What gave you the confidence it was the right move?

To be fair, we didn't set out to make a heavy metal banking ad. We set out to create a distinctive, compelling brand campaign that would appeal to our target customers and get Mettle's name in the atmosphere. Once we did the research and brainstormed with the great crew at Fold7, we realized that music (and in particular, strong loud music) worked nicely to achieve our goals. We stood out in a sea of competitive sameness, it wasn't your mother's typical banking ad, and we really liked that. And as a cherry on the sundae, it also captured the culture and ethos of Mettle itself - we like to think of ourselves as a bit out there, a bit different, a bit loud :) 

Q. What encouraged you to reinvest some of your media spend from performance into brand?

This is an easy one - it would never occur to me to not do brand marketing. That's the way I was "raised" by mentors and bosses before me, not to mention what I learned at the feet of Binet and Field or Mark Ritson or any other great marketing expert. Acquisition marketing is important and necessary. But without accompanying brand investment, it doesn't work in the long run. And I want Mettle around for the long run.

Q. What advice can you give to fellow marketers who are looking to make a case for brand over performance to the C-suite?

I just don't think its either/or. It has to be both. Acquisition marketing is a customer today, brand marketing is a customer tomorrow - as I tell my team. I know its difficult and sometimes colleagues, boards, or exec teams don't understand, or have trouble with brand's admittedly harder metrics/measurement capabilities. But take the time to walk them through the psychology (if your brand name isn't in someone's consideration set, they won't react to all that great marketing acquisition work) and make sure you come up with a way to show the impact - it could be market share surveys, it could be qualitative interviews, it could be organic growth (ie, traffic to the website). The hardest thing is the time factor: brand marketing takes time to leave its mark, and that's is difficult in these very short-term focused days. I just try to remind everyone, think of those great brands you know like Coca Cola or Burberrys or Ford... You know them because they've been brand marketing for centuries and understand the investment needed!