Book Review: The Tanning of America by Steve Stoute

I finished "The Tanning of America: How Hip Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy" over vacation. It's OK. I give it 3/5 stars as a rating.  I recommend it for marketers who are unfamiliar with the influence of Hip Hop and Urban culture on what's cool for everyone.  Hip hop has created a great deal of what's cool and it is fascinating to learn how it started and how the influence continues today.

@SteveStoute clearly knows what he is talking about and is highly credible.  He literally invented some of the tactics for artists and brand partnerships that are commonplace today.  Stoute also has a good eye for what is be both cool and credible.  This is where some marketers get it wrong... attaching your brand to a star or opinion leader can be a wonderful thing but if there isn't an authentic and credible brand connection, the relationship ultimately won't be worth much for either party.  I liked when Stoute talked about stuff he worked on directly or that his firm did.  His observations on his own work or work close to his was the best content in the book.

I did not enjoy when Stoute want far afield from his home territory.  I'm not interested in his assessment of "New Coke" for example.  Every marketer in the universe already knows about that story.  It doesn't need to be retold in a book that is focused on Tanning.  Also, I'm not particularly interested in Stoute's views on New Coke or other stories unrelated to tanning or his work.  He wasn't connected to it and isn't credible when talking about it.  Another pet peeve for me is Stoute's overuse of the word "unapologetically".  Stoute LOVES the word unapolegetic and says it a lot in the book.  I can imagine speaking with him and having him say it 10-20 times during an hour conversation.  The word is overused in this book and thus has less impact than I expect Stoute hoped it would.  I appreciate the conversational tone of much of the book but I'm unapologetic in saying that the word unapologetic was used WAY too much.

I have to give @SteveStoute credit for his marketing innovation and excellent intuition in creating the right partnerships between opinion leaders and brands.  Go ahead and give this book a read if you're into the subject.  The book is not amazing but it is good.  I appreciate the work Stoute put into it and his willingness to share his views on Hip Hop's influence with the world.

Two books I will finish during our vacation

The Tanning of America by Steve Stoute

I'm interested in @SteveStoute's thoughts on how urban culture & hip-hop culture evolved into our mainstream culture as America was "tanned".  I'm not sure Steve Stoute is a "marketing genius" as the description on amazon.com says but I am looking forward to the rest of this book.  

My suspicion is that Steve Stoute is equal parts bionic salesman and pop culture prophet.  Regardless, I am looking forward to finishing this book which I'm about a third of the way through reading right now.

 Content Marketing by Rebecca Lieb

I was turned on to this book through a tweet from @lieblink and I immediately preordered it. I t occurs to me that Red Bull is already doing much of what Rebecca will recommend and that some of the recommendations will be irrelevant as they're geared to marketers who are not producing content to sell something else vs what Red Bull is doing as we create a profitable media business at Red Bull Media House.

Still, I know Rebecca is a really insightful voice in our space and that there will be some fantastic takeaways in this book for me if I take the time to read it.  So I fully expect that by January 11, there will be sand between pages and the cover will be sun faded after some dedicated Hawaiian reading time... I'll let you know how it goes!

Is Gatorade a competitor to Red Bull Energy Drink?

I read "First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon" earlier this year. It's a quick easy read on the birth and history of Gatorade through 2005.  The book is a valuable read for any marketer and is full of useful information for me as a marketer at Red Bull.  I see many similarities in how Gatorade successfully created the Isotonic category and how Red Bull created the Energy category.

Many passages in the book grabbed me. One of them is was the following description regarding Gatorade considering changes to product formulation:

Although its Performance Series, which is directed at high-intensity athletes, has products that include vitamins A, C, and E, zinc, and protein, the Gatorade the general consumer sees has never included the latest ingredients of the moment - such as creatine, chromium picolinate, ephedra, and taurine.

Gatorade might have been even more popular if its marketers had introduced a special Gatorade with a popular supplement in it, but by not doing that, they avoided risking exposure when that supplement was phased out for the next latest thing. Since Gatorade stands for the ultimate in sweat replenishment, its brand managers have to distinguish the fads from the future."

Gatorade is "the ultimate in sweat replenishment".  Cool.  Gatorade is about hydration.  That's a focused and defensible functional position.  The statement was probably a nice filter to use when determining if/how/when to change the product formula.  If an ingredient helps in sweat replenishment, it is a candidate for adding to Gatorade.  If not, it's not.  This is the way it was at Gatorade for a long time.  But times have changed...

Fast forward to today and it seems that Gatorade is tackling a broader mission of athlete performance while sticking to strict positioning for the core product.  The core product, Gatorade "02 Perform" formulation appears to be the original Gatorade consumers know and love.  However, the Gatorade "01 Prime" formulation seems have learned a thing or two from energy drinks. Gatorade "01 Prime" contains water, sugar, and sodium as well as Niacin, Vitamin B6, and Panthothenic Acid.  The last three ingredients are all B-Group Vitamins.  All six ingredients are found in Red Bull and other energy drinks.  Gatorade left the caffeine out but that's just a detail.

So yes... Gatorade is a competitor to Red Bull Energy Drink.  It's no wonder brands like Gatorade want to join the party.  The energy drink category continues to grow in double digits every year while isotonics are flat (no pun intended).  I think ultimately products from Gatorade that are not hydration focused will fail because Gatorade's whole reason for being is hydration.  Remember Gatorade gum? Gatorade energy bars? Why would "01 Prime" or "03 Recover" beverages be different?  Only time will tell though.  Stay tuned.

Chris Bosh on fashion

You might want to cut off some shorts and wear them with some boots and a cool shirt. That's fashion, because it's what you want to do. People can laugh at it, but you have to be like, "This is cool. I don't know what you're talking about." Next thing you know, people will be saying, That is kind of cool, man.

-Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh)

Chris Bosh drops wisdom as 2011 comes to a close...read more at Esquire.com

Bequet Gourmet Caramel

from the Bequet Caramels website:

Robin Béquet has always enjoyed creating fine confections for her friends and family. When her 25 year career in technology sales management and business management ended with the telecom crash of 2001, she saw an opportunity to think seriously about what she wanted to do next. Having great passion for fine confections and having received rave reviews for her homemade caramels, she began thinking about an artisan caramel business.

She was only interested in creating a business if she could be certain that hers was the best caramel available. Blind taste test showed 17 out of 18 adults tested preferred Béquet caramel over 4 other high end gourmet caramels. At the encouragement of friends and family Robin launched Béquet Confections in December 2001, near their home in Bozeman, Montana.

I first tried Bequet Gourmet Caramels when a box showed up at our house in December 2011.  @jdoohan ordered a gift basket from @zingermans that included Bequet Caramels.  It was a pretty big box with a mix of two award winning varieties: Celtic Sea Salt & Chipotle.

The Celtic Sea Salt Vanilla Caramel is unbelievably good. I mean it is AWESOME. If you love caramel, you definitely need to give these a try. I may literally dream about them.

Béquet Confections
8235 Huffine Lane
Bozeman, MT 59718
phone: +1 406-586-2191
sales@bequetconfections.com
http://www.bequetconfections.com