A Little Less Conversation Might Actually Be On Brand

Does anyone really care what a canned pasta brand thinks about world events?

Some brands have made real-time marketing and social media an opportunity to comment on relevant political events, social issues and world topics. But many are just filling an ever-widening content pipeline with noise.

What’s fueled all this is technology: The need to fill ever-widening pipelines with “content,” and the ability to spread messages around the world in seconds. Technology makes it easier for brands to pull the trigger on even the most mundane of sentiments. Unfortunately, the nice posts are forgotten in minutes, but when they go wrong, they can have consequences far outweighing their real significance.

It’s also possible that all this social media consciousness is very disingenuous. Brands are, of course, the public face of corporations — many of which wield their political and financial power to do some unsavory things behind the scenes. We shouldn’t be surprised that they show their happy face to the public through their social media efforts.

It’s the subject of my latest column on Talent Zoo.

And by the way, my book conveniently fits in Christmas stockings and under Festivus poles.