Marketing Lessons learnt from Breaking Bad.

 A disclaimer: Purpose of this article is not to promote any gangster, drugs, narcos or violence. The sole purpose is to see things with different angles, wearing the cap of a marketer. 

Breaking Bad:

Originally aired in January 2008, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who works part-time at a car wash. After being diagnosed with untreatable lung cancer, White turns to a life of crime by using his knowledge of chemistry to produce and sell methamphetamines. In the beginning, White’s main goal is to provide financial stability for his family before he dies. However, he soon finds himself deeper and deeper in the drug game, leading to danger for himself and those around him. Breaking Bad is among the top rated T.V Series by IMDB, It scored 9.4/10.

Lesson #1: Quality Vs. Quantity:

The market already had a good amount of Meth available, there were many cooks as well. And then, one fine day, Mr. Walter White aka Heisenberg introduces “Blue Meth” in the market. Now people were demanding only Blue Meth and nothing else.

The scenario is no different with 2017’s content marketing. Of course, things work on the law of averages and hence we have to produce content in bulk to feed the masses as there is continuous consumption of content. As I had mentioned in my previous articles where we saw marketing lessons from Game of Thrones and Narcos/Pablo Escobar, NEVER COMPROMISE ON QUALITY. It sets the brand apart from the competition. A few key pieces of high quality content – core to your message and mission, unique, engaging, and a catalyst for action – are what’s needed to drive demand. Let’s look at our target audience, what they require, what they deserve, what are the present and future trends and what resources we have and come up with what for now can produce in the way of both quantity and quality product.

Lesson #2: What’s the colour of your brand?

Walter White taught us that if you make the very best product and make perfection a priority, you will be rewarded with organic word-of-mouth and customer loyalty and you might save millions which many companies are spending just to create word-of-mouth.

If you think Heisenberg’s crystal meth was so famous for was due to its chemical properties, then let me tell you that you are wrong. Chemical Properties were not the only and major reason.

Different colours are associated with different traits when it comes to marketing.

Is it any surprise then that blue is associated with being clean, credible, professional and powerful?

This is why many brand marks in the medical, health care and scientific sectors adopt blue as a primary colour.

Walt’s blue meth was just a coincidence? I think not.

Let me know in the comment section, What’s the colour of your brand?

Lesson #3: Have Ambitious and Passionate people in your team (Who are crazy and in love with Marketing):

Of course, Walter also made his hiring / partnering with Jesse Pinkman in hurriedness. But Jesse was hired on solid grounds. He knew the market (street level dealers), he knew the product (the best in the market at the time), and he knew how to market his product, yo.

Through my personal experience, working with a team of passionate, crazy, creative, tech-savvy marketer had always been beneficial in getting desired output and “Work Satisfaction”.

Breaking Bad also taught us to stay away from shortcuts that seem convenient at the time and you won’t have to worry about your past catching up with you. Bad things will end badly and good things will have a happy ending. Don’t compromise on your ethics, morals and keep making kick-ass marketing campaigns. 

Thank you for your time and energy. Let me know your thoughts and views on the same in the comment section. I had also written articles on "Marketing Lessons learnt from Game of Thrones" and "Marketing Lessons learnt from Narcos/Pablo Escobar". Let me know if I could be of any help in designing marketing campaigns as that's one of the very few things I am good at and as Heisenberg says "REMEMBER MY NAME."

Cheers!

Links of my other articles:

Marketing Lessons learnt from Game of Thrones.

Marketing Lessons learnt from Netflix’s Narcos / Pablo Escobar.

Decoding Management Lessons from Bollywood Dialogues