BRAND IRRELEVANCET: A LESSON FROM PETA
by Jason Miletsky
I’ll start by going on the record: I’ve never been a fan of PETA. As an ordinary, politically-minded citizen, I’ve never bought into their hard-line tactics. Back in the day, I thought that their habits of throwing blood on people who choose to wear legally purchased fur was reprehensible, and every time they appeared on the news it made me want to eat a Whopper simply out of spite.
As a branding guy, on the other hand, I could appreciate what they had achieved – they stirred my emotions. Bottom line was that they were never going to get me as a card carrying member no matter what tactics they used; I’m simply not their target demo. But they were legitimate, they had a purpose, and they clearly believed in their cause – for each time they got my blood boiling in anger, there was someone else with different sensibilities who opened up their checkbook or joined the picket line.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, at least we understood them. Over the years, though, as they (like every other organization), find themselves competing for attention in an increasingly frenetic world, they’ve grabbed at easy headlines, turning themselves into buffoons along the way. At the very best its called their credibility into question; at the very worst, their sanity. Take a look at some of their most recent causes:
- A movement to rename fish as “sea kittens” in the hope that we think twice before eating them.
- Promoting increased use of tofu by infusing it with George Clooney’s sweat, and marketing it as Clofu
- Their most recent battle: the Obama fly swatting, shown below:
Is this the same PETA that once struck fear in their hearts of carnivores everywhere? No, that PETA’s long gone, replaced by this newer version that more closely resembles an issue of The Onion or Cracked Magazine.
I’m sure someone, somewhere, will show me that donations to their cause have never been higher, membership is up, and other key measurements are looking good. That might be the case – the world has never lacked for fanatics. But on a more universal scale, their brand has lost its value.
PR, whether online or offline, is one of the most effective ways of communicating a message and building a brand. It’s powerful, it’s believable, but it’s not just about grabbing a headline. Anyone can do that. Charles Manson did it, as did Bernie Madoff, the Craigslist Killer and the management of Lehman Brothers. They all received great exposure, if “great exposure” is measured in column inches alone. But look at their brands – tarnished beyond repair. PETA has been using PR to accelerate their trip to irrelevance. Protecting the rights of flies? How can anyone take them seriously? It hurts their overall cause. But it’s a lesson other brands can learn from.
Brands need to stay true to who they are and what they want to achieve. There’s nothing wrong with grabbing the low hanging fruit in return for short-terms gains, and there’s nothing wrong with taking a few calculated chances. But there needs to be a long term strategy behind it. Brand building is the process of building trust, of letting your audience know what you stand for, and it’s a process that never ends. The biggest factor of building trust is consistency – fulfilling your promises time and time again, standing by your message one instance after another until consumers know that your brand can be counted on. Every action taken by the brand becomes part of the equation, so every action needs to be considered carefully. This has never been more true today, when social media has caught the eye of brands everywhere, many of which are suddenly rushing to be the next big viral sensation. Stop. Slow down. Consider your overall strategy and make sure that the results will fit your message and continue building trust. Consider the lesson of PETA: they may still be around and in the news, but they’ll never be the same, and their strategy has diminished their relevance considerably.
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