A Jeen Yuhs Approach to Fame

If you work in the field of connecting brands with culture a knowledge of hip hop helps.?

However I don’t believe any previous rap knowledge is required to be charmed and inspired by the Jeen Yuhs documentary about Kanye’s life and career which was recently released on Netflix.?

As a fan, Jeen Yuhs delighted me with a behind the scenes look at a blessed time in hip hop. As a strategist, Jeen Yuhs served me a rich slice of brand building lessons.

A ) It’s just the word “genius” written funny.?

It’s an old story, “genius” but Coodie’s voice and point of view make it different : jeen yuhs.?

Coodie’s handheld camera aimed at Kanye connects a familiar story – the painful conquest of recognition and success - to a new, unique, world of feeling.?

Provoking reactions and creating memories in brand communications demands such familiar surprises.?

It demands that we recognise and appreciate familiar, universal, at times seemingly generic truths and experiences and make them feel newly vivid, rich and compelling.?

Too much marketing research still magnifies fashion rather than human nature. Too much of it builds on what is transient and neglects what is eternal.?

Or as writer Stewart Brand puts it:?

“Fast (culture) gets all our attention, slow (culture) has all the power. Fast culture is vivid, visible, obvious, and yes, fashionable. By contrast, slow culture is everything beneath the surface, less well charted, much less visible”.

The premise of the documentary is rooted in slow culture.?

It is a re-telling of one of culture’s eternal legends : an ordinary hero’s journey to transcendence through exceptional adversity.?

To brands too, the magic is in the unique voice with which they can express some of the truths, themes and stories that have forever been shaping our imaginations.?

B) “We’re all self-conscious I’m just the first to admit it”

As a public figure, Kanye can be raw, A BIT TOO RAW AT TIMES …?

Most brands still won’t get anywhere near it.?

Marketing teams carefully weed out any sign of imperfection or fallibility from communications for fear that it may damage their reputation, hurt product “quality perception”, erode their desirability, make them seem “less aspirational”. This leads to brands that exist in worlds that lack tension, chaos, depth, adversity, failure, fear.? It promotes air brushed uniformity which leaves us cold. It creates a vacuum between brand promises and the actual brand experience.

Brands can course correct by presenting themselves as human, humble and perfectible, embarked on a journey towards better, and equipping consumers with the means of tracking their transformation, rather than make grand promises and gestures.?

Data shows that self-awareness coming from a brand is not only more appealing, it also renders promises more credible and lays the foundations of better, enduring, trustworthy relationships.

C) It gets the viewers through the music.?

?In an expression of musical Jeen Yuhs, artificial separations and hierarchies are erased and our shared emotions, truths, vulnerabilities magnified. Kanye is on his way to becoming an icon.??

?In the words of Vijay Iyer, director of the Ojai music festival in California:?

“Listening brings all of us in, music makers and observers alike, towards a shared purpose.”

Tik Tok – the world’s current platform of platforms - is largely music based.?

?In 2022 the number of American podcast listeners will increase 6 % to 125 million.?

?Even porn has its growing audio market.?

?If listening is an all access ticket to our brains and our hearts, why aren’t more brands thinking about the music they use and the sounds the create ??

?Music can provide and strengthen the precious mental short-cuts brands need in order to grow.

?Music’s sales effects are documented : “these can be boosted 20 to 30%”?( Sarah Carter / Peter Field )?

?Think about the ads you remember, they’ll probably include an interesting use of music and/or sound.?

So maybe it is time we revive the lost art of the jingle and think about the song which could answer the brief as much as the script or the experience.

?SO IN CONCLUSION AND IN YE’S SIGNATURE CAPS LOCK PUNCTUATIONLESS STYLE ONE OF HIS MANY DISTINCTIVE BRAND ASSETS?

?THE POINT OF JEEN YUHS FROM A CREATIVE STRATEGY PERSPECTIVE IS TO REMIND US THAT DESPITE THE HIGH PACE OFTEN NEEDLESSLY COMPLEX AND AMBIGUOUS ENVIRONMENTS WE’RE REQUIRED TO THINK AND CREATE IN AS MARKETERS AND PLANNERS COMPLEXITY OFTEN PROVIDING THE ILLUSION OF SUBSTANCE THE BIG THE POWERFUL THE ENDURING THE REAL THE FERTILE PILLARS OF FAME AND CULTURAL PRESENCE ARE RATHER SIMPLE AND FUNDAMENTAL :?

?IDENTIFY AND REFRESH THEMES AND MYTHS AND TRUTHS THAT ARE ETERNAL

?DON’T BE PHASED BY SHOWING A LITTLE WEAKNESS IT IS TRUSTWORTHY AND REFRESHING

?AND HAVE THE RIGHT BEATS TO ROCK IT ALL?