The How and Why of Fame

Nirvana, Fame and Building Your Brand

Where were you when the wave hit?

September 10, 1991. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” comes screaming into the world, launching Nirvana into a rarified stratosphere of global fame.

By early 1992, Nirvana — a post-punk band from Aberdeen, Washington — had toppled giants like Michael Jackson, U2 and, critically, the LA hair metal bands of the 1980s.

How? Why?

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” is an objectively great song. But a great song only gets you so far. Most of the time, it doesn’t get you anywhere. 

So how’d they get famous?

Nirvana tapped into something emotionally raw and powerful happening in the culture at that moment, and they cut through in a way no one else could. 

They were the right kind of different. There was enough pop and rock in the mix to make the punk palatable to a much larger audience.  

Their timing was perfect. The 1980s were over, and a lot of young people were very much ready for something new.

And yeah, they got a little lucky.

So seemingly out of nowhere, Nirvana became rock stars. World tours. Platinum albums. Grammy awards. Endless media coverage. Heavy rotation on radio stations and MTV. Money. 

And what does any of this have to do with your brand?

Building a famous brand has much more in common with building famous bands, actors or athletes than most marketers might realize. Because as Paul Feldwick writes in “Why Does the Pedlar Sing?”… sales are transactional, but fame is a relationship. 

Fame is collaborative. Fame can’t happen without producers, managers, agents, marketers, PR teams, etc., all pulling different levers behind the scenes. 

Fame is communal. It literally takes a village to make someone or something famous. Nirvana became ridiculously famous partly because millions of people decided they should be. 

Fame is emotional. Think about the electricity in the air when your favorite band walks on stage. Or when Giannis does something unbelievably cool, and the crowd at the Fiserv Forum loses their minds. If your brand feels good, then it’s a good choice. 

Fame takes time. No one gets famous overnight, though Nirvana came pretty close. Nike, Coca-Cola and Cheerios are famous because of decades of relentless marketing and advertising. Some fame campaigns — Allstate’s “Mayhem” is a good example  — run for years or even decades.  

Fame takes constant reinforcement. Nirvana is still famous because the original audience is still listening and new audiences can find them everywhere. 

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” has 2+ billion plays on Spotify and 1.9 billion views on YouTube, channels that didn’t even exist when Kurt Cobain was alive. Over the years, “Nevermind” has sold more than 30 million copies. 

So why aim for fame?

For challenger brands that want to take on market leaders, studies show that fame and fame campaigns are the most effective driver of long-term sales, pricing, profit and market share growth. 

Fame also protects your brand from commodification, which protects you from price sensitivity and from your competitors and from economic forces beyond your control.  

Sure, saying you want to get famous out loud can maybe sound a little … “teen spirit.” But at the end of the day, you’ve got to amplify your brand in the minds of a growing audience of potential buyers. That’s what fame is. 

And the more people know your brand, trust your brand and feel good about your brand … the more likely they are to choose your brand. That’s what fame does.

Let’s jam on that in the new year. 

See you next time.

Sources! 

The Long and the Short of It, Les Binet and Peter Field, IPA

Why Does the Pedlar Sing?, Paul Feldwick