Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead

Citation

McMellon, C. (2011), "Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 86-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610421111108076

Is a marketing book about insights learned from a dope‐fueled group of rock musicians necessary or worthwhile? This is the question I asked myself as I began reading Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. Surprisingly, the answer turned out to be, “Yes!” Everyone should read this book because it is filled with pragmatic and some not‐so‐pragmatic insights and action steps from a rock band that became one of the most well‐known musical groups ever.

Authors Scott and Halligan begin with a brief history of the band and the community of “Dead Heads” that followed them with a brand loyalty coveted, but rarely seen, by marketers. The book is divided into three sections: the band, the fans, and the business. Within each section, easy‐to‐read, short chapters tell a part of the Grateful Dead story along with what marketing lesson we might learn from it, a current successful firm that uses it, and some action steps you should consider to move your firm forward.

In chapter 1, “Create a unique business model,” we learn that the Grateful Dead were contrarians in much of what they did. Rather than concentrate on album sales, they focused on revenue from concerts, just the opposite of the standard music business model. Each concert was different; thus fans went to many concerts, becoming loyal fans along the way. What is the marketing lesson? It is easy to do what everyone else does in your industry; it is a lot harder (but may be more successful) to innovate. “The Grateful Dead teaches us that business model innovation is just as important, if not more so, than product innovation” (p. 6). Think Netflix versus Blockbuster, or Zip cars versus Hertz.

Chapter 2, “Chose memorable brand (and band) names,” tells the story of how the Grateful Dead created their name. The lesson here is not to be afraid to be playful in naming a product. Who ever heard of Google or Facebook 15 years ago? In chapter 3, “Build a diverse team,” the authors state that diversity equals innovation and synergy. They also argue that diversity in personnel and opinions will help you innovate by overcoming your preconceived notions. Ask: “Does your market team look like everyone else's?” If the answer is yes, diversify.

In chapter 4, “Be yourself,” the important focus is on being authentic. The band was real to their fans, making mistakes, accepting responsibility. It was all part of the Grateful Dead experience for the fans. The authors suggest that marketers should be as transparent as possible. For example, start a blog and allow employees and customers to participate and interact. This may seem scary to senior management, but it is the wave of the future. Ride the wave now or you will need to ride it later.

Chapter 5, “Experiment, experiment, experiment,” and chapter 6, “Embrace technology,” teach us to keep on learning and always improving. They point out that becoming too conservative in our marketing approach can easily lead to stagnation. Big breakthroughs can come from experimentation and interaction of employees and customers, not doing the same thing over and over. For an action step, the authors suggest that “Marketers should shorten up their planning cycles to monthly – versus six to twelve months out – in order to become more agile in response to changing marketplace dynamics, new product developments, changing competitive landscapes, and new marketing technologies” (p. 39).

In chapter 7, “Establish a new category,” we learn how the Grateful Dead created their sound. The authors ask us to think about how to redefine our industry borders. Although not an easy job to do, if you succeed, you can succeed big. Chapter 8, “Encourage eccentricity,” tells us to cultivate customers for their eccentricities. This may be good for a company like Apple computers, but I am not so sure it would be good for all PC marketers. The authors appear to be blinded, at times, in their own adoration of the Grateful Dead. For a small brewery like The New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins, Colorado marketing its Fat Tire Amber Ale encouraging eccentricity in your customers may be great, but for IBM, I suspect it might not be so great. Chapter 9, “Bring people on an odyssey,” is smart for those brands that can build a community of consumers. Let the consumers build the community, not your product manager. After the community is formed, interact with them.

Chapters 10 and 11 cover customer relation management by discussing how the Grateful Dead built and managed their fan base through the early use of e‐mail and whatever the new leading communication technology was among their target. They always put their loyal fans (i.e. Dead Heads) first. Chapter 12 begins the business section with a discussion about cutting out the middleman in your business model for more control and efficiency. Other chapters cover such topics as giving away some of your content or product as an incentive for customers to buy more, upgrading or introducing premium line extensions, becoming looser with your brand name, partnering with entrepreneurs to allow for more creativity and innovation, and the social responsibility of giving back to the community. All chapters are worth reading because of the links to what the Grateful Dead actually did and for its market usefulness.

The last chapter is titled “Do what you love.” Who can argue with this lesson? This advice is for your marketing efforts and for your own life. I give my students this advice and I live by it myself. Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, et al.; the list is large of those entrepreneurs who followed their hearts and not their pocketbooks and, in the end, had fatter wallets than most of us.

In summary, this reviewer would like to quote the Grateful Dead lyric, “What a long strange trip it has been,” after reading this book, but, instead, I have to write what a short, interesting trip it has been. Using the Grateful Dead as a marketing example can be fun and we can learn from them especially for the small or entrepreneurial marketer, but promise me you will not smoke a joint before reading this book or you will be thinking this is marketing genius when, in fact, it is just good marketing sense. So, this weekend, settle down in a comfy chair with a nice glass of wine, and read this interesting and enjoyable marketing book.