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Businesses that Bury the Hatchet

9/21/2018

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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

What’s a fun night out with friends for you?  Maybe it’s dinner at a favorite restaurant or a trip to the movies to see a new release.  How about throwing axes?  Thanks to some adventurous entrepreneurs, more and more people are participating in the pastime once reserved for lumberjacks.  Hurling hatchets undoubtedly offers an adrenalin rush, but does it hit the mark for Mindful Marketing?
 
You can count me among those who had no idea that axe throwing is now in vogue.  However, like the return of plaid, the trend is becoming harder to miss, as axe throwing sites pop up in cities such as Austin, Baltimore, Denver, Detroit, and Philadelphia and as news media like USA Today, NBC, and the Washington Post cover the craze.
 
The name is self-explanatory, but what exactly does axe throwing involve?  Participants hoist a 14-inch hatchet over their heads and chuck it at a piece of plywood 12-15 feet away.  They earn points based on where their axe sticks in the target, e.g., outer ring, inner ring, bullseye, or blue dot (kill shot).
 
An axe throwing outing can last anywhere from 60 minutes to several hours, depending on who’s throwing and for what reason, for instance, an individual taking in some target practice or a team competing in a tournament league.
 
The cost of axe throwing also varies, but Backyard Axe Throwing League’s pricing offers a ballpark: about $20/hr. for walk-ins, $36 per person for parties, and $120 per player for eight-week leagues.  The businesses usually supply the axes.
 
Are there really enough consumers willing to pay that kind of money to throw some hardware at some hard wood?  Also, do many people have the physical strength and stamina to endure an evening of axe throwing?  Apparently the answer to both questions is ‘Yes.’
 
First, axe throwing hits the sweet spot for American’s largest age demographic, Millennials, who value experiences (often the wilder the better) over things.  These young people have a bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out).  Also, many of them likely recognize their antisocial tendencies involving digital devices and want reasons to put them down so they can interact in person with real humans.
 
Such consumer desires have undoubtedly spurred the rapid spread of axe throwing and the success of businesses such as Bad Axe Throwing, Bury the Hatchet, and Generation Axe.  Backyard Axe Throwing League, which began in 2006, now has over a dozen locations in the U.S. and Canada and claims to have served over a million people.
 
Second, as the growth suggests, axe throwing is not just for the big and burly.  The axes are fairly light (usually less than 2 lbs.), so success depends more on proper form than brute strength.  Women and men of all sizes can excel at the craft.
 
That sounds good, but isn’t axe throwing dangerous?  After all, axes have been used for millennia to chop things, including people.  Furthermore, many axe throwing establishments also serve alcohol, which seems like a precarious, if not perilous, combination.
 
Axe throwing businesses, however, suggest that the activity is completely safe, and they provide some convincing support for that claim.  For instance, patrons at Bury the Hatchet receive a “safety briefing and training session before they are allowed to participate.”  Like many others, this business also uses cordoned off throwing lanes that are “a cross between a batting cage and a bowling alley.”
 
Bad Axe Throwing, which claims to be “the biggest urban axe throwing club in the world” says that it has never had a single injury.  Apparently that track record is due to safety protocol such as inspecting each axe before every event, making sure blades are sharp enough to stick in wood but not sharp to the touch, and requiring that participants “throw and retrieve their axes in sync with one another.”
 
Also, while not all axe throwing businesses serve alcohol, for those that do, intoxication doesn’t seem to be an issue.  Maybe it’s because people go to these places to throw first and drink second, so their desire to perform well acts a restraint on their drinking.
 
Meanwhile, axe throwing establishments claim some tangible benefits, namely exercise (a person can get a good workout throwing axes as well as bending to pick them up) and relationship building (fewer things bond people together more than competition and/or shared embarrassment).  Bury the Hatchet also says that participants can experience stress relief and get an ego boost, as social media contacts can’t help but like pictures and videos of their friends throwing axes.
 
Despite these benefits, some may suggest that spending a few hours hurling hatchets is a waste of time and money.  Of course, we don’t all have the same tastes in recreation.  For some it’s an opera and for others it’s a minor league baseball game that refreshes the mind and reenergizes the spirit.  Still, for others it’s axes.
 
It’s hard to say how long axe throwing will remain the rage, but many more people will likely channel their inner lumberjack and experience the primal trend.  Voice assistants and virtual reality may make it seem risky and passé, but axe throwing for fun is “Mindful Marketing.”


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Just Divided over Nike's New Ad

9/9/2018

43 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Nike just aired a new commercial that has quickly become entangled in controversy.  The two-minute “Dream Crazy” ad is a well-produced spot that features footage of inspiring amateur athletes, as well as a couple of the brand’s superstar spokespeople.  Surprisingly, the source of conflict is the ad’s narrator, who people seem either to admire or revile, which makes marketing analysts ask, “What did Nike just do?”
 
Marking the 30th anniversary of the company’s iconic “Just Do It” campaign, Nike’s new ad uses narration from NFL-quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick, who also appears briefly in the spot to urge viewers to, among other things, “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.”
 
If you’re not familiar with Kaepernick, he was one of the first professional football players to choose to kneel during the national anthem as a sign of protest against what many believe has been growing racial injustice in America.  The last game he played was in January of 2017, but Kaepernick has since become the face and voice of a movement that extends well beyond professional sports.

Of course, not everyone has appreciated Kaepernick’s activism.  Some resent that his example has encouraged others to kneel during the national anthem, which they believe is either unfounded protest or a misplaced act that disrespects the flag and demonstrates a lack of patriotism.  Anthem protests have since become a point of contention for many NFL fans, causing some to swear off the league entirely.
 
In short, whether right or wrong, Nike’s use of Kaepernick has struck a raw nerve in a nation deeply divided.
 
Before going further, I need to say that I really didn’t want to write about this ad.  Maybe it’s my Swiss heritage that makes me lean toward neutrality and dislike discord, especially political.  It’s not fun for me to tackle an ad that arouses such strong social division.  However, after much debate and several stops and starts, I still felt compelled to address the ad and so decided to “just do it.”
 
The first step in this Mindful Marketing analysis is ethics: Does Nike’s ad uphold societal values?  Given the sometimes-ambiguous nature of “societal values,” that question is inherently hard to answer, but the circumstances surrounding the Nike commercial make this inquiry especially difficult.
 
The ad’s ‘dream big’ theme is positive and hopeful and probably not something with which many people would take issue.  Instead, the debate seems to  fall squarely on the company’s use of Kaepernick and whether what he represents is decent, fair, honest, respectful, and responsible (the five core values Mindful Marketing seeks to uphold).
 
Unfortunately, for those like me trying to make a moral judgment, both sides can make a compelling case based on the same principles.  People who oppose Kaepernick can argue, for instance, that his activism unfairly characterizes police officers who are honest and considerate of others.  His opponents also may contend that the anthem protests dishonor members of the armed forces who risk their lives to protect the freedoms the flag represents.
 
On the other hand, those who support Kaepernick can claim that the social justice movement he signifies is fundamentally about showing everyone respect.  Similarly, this side shares that its aim is to ensure the fair treatment of all people.
 
Admittedly, the issues are more complicated than what I am presenting here; however, the point is that both sides have strong countervailing points that are difficult to adjudicate.  For sake of argument, therefore, let’s give the ad the benefit of the doubt and assume that it does support societal values.
 
The second question, then, considers the ad’s effectiveness, which is also very difficult to discern.  After the ad was released online this past Monday, several of the first news reports were of anger.  Some consumers vowed to boycott Nike products, while others took more immediate and drastic action by burning their Nike shoes and socks.
 
Newer reports, however, have been that after the ad was released, Nike’s sales “grew 31% from the Sunday of Labor Day weekend through Tuesday, as compared with a 17% gain recorded for the same period of 2017, according to San Francisco–based Edison Trends.”
 
On the other hand, Nike’s stock (NKE), which had closed at $82.18 a share on Friday, August 31, closed at $80.30 a share this past Friday, September 7.
 
So, does Nike really know what it’s doing with the Kaepernick ad?  A recent Washington Post article makes a convincing case that Nike does.  Columnist Sally Jenkins maintains that the commercial positions Nike well in national and global contexts that are increasingly multicultural.  She also argues that young shoppers, who are especially important to sneaker makers, want to buy products from companies that support social causes.
 
Public opinion is not so clear.  This past Friday morning, September 7, Apex Marketing Group reported that the ad had produced $220 million in publicity for Nike: $69 million positive, $67 million negative, and $83 million neutral.  Apex also noted that the percentage of positive publicity had fallen by 9 percentage points from Thursday to Friday.
 
Some may argue that any publicity is good publicity.  That assertion, however, seems to be a myth, especially after considering organizational examples like Volkswagen and individual ones like Harvey Weinstein.
 
Public favor for the ad also might wane as people take more time to process the financial context surrounding Nike’s and Kaepernick’s participation in the promotion.  For a few years, Kaepernick was a very good NFL quarterback, who even played in a Super Bowl.  Before he began his anthem protest, he had been demoted to backup status.
 
Kaepernick made a total of $43 million as an NFL quarterback, of which he has donated over $1 million to a variety of social justice causes.  It’s difficult to know how much, if any, money he has made as an activist, but sports agents estimate that his new Nike endorsement could be worth “millions of dollars per year.”
 
For these reasons, some have taken issue with the ad’s suggestion that Kaepernick ‘sacrificed everything,’ especially when compared to individuals who have given their lives in service to their country.
 
Kaepernick may not be serving as a Nike spokesman for the money, but it’s hard to imagine that Nike’s choice of Kaepernick was without consideration of its bottom-line, given that it’s a for-profit company that must answer to shareholders in an increasingly competitive marketplace.  Not surprising, some have accused the company of “commercializing activism,” i.e., profiting from a social cause.
 
Another concern for Nike should be its relationship with the NFL.  This past March, the NFL announced that Nike would continue to be its official supplier of uniforms and sideline gear through 2028.  It’s not known how much these rights cost Nike, but it’s likely the company paid more than the $1.1 billion it reportedly invested for similar exclusivity in 2012.
 
The anthem protests that Kaepernick initiated continue to be a thorn in the side of the NFL.  What’s more, Kaepernick has sued the NFL, claiming that the league has colluded to keep him off the field since he last played.  All this to say, there are probably few people the NFL would rather not see exalted in a commercial than Kaepernick.  Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
 
Nevertheless, the league has tried to put on a good face about the ad.  NFL executive vice president of communications and public affairs Jocelyn Moore offered the following:
 
“The National Football League believes in dialogue, understanding and unity. We embrace the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful, positive change in our communities.”  “The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action.”
 
Despite Moore’s conciliatory tone, one has to imagine that the ad places a significant strain on the relationship between the league and Nike that will only be exacerbated if there are further defections of NFL fans.  Although her response makes it seem unlikely that the NFL is considering the commercial to be any kind of contractual breach, the ad will at a minimum cause the league to think more carefully about Nike and future sponsorships.   
 
Like the ethical analysis, assessment of the commercial’s likely effectiveness has also been complicated.  In the short-term,  people may continue to applaud Nike for its social conscience.  The ad and Kaepernick’s lawsuit, however, must be straining its relationship with the NFL.
 
Moreover, the ad’s theme of “sacrificing everything,” coming from a multimillionaire and a Fortune 100 company, will increasingly ring hollow with people, especially those working two jobs to make ends meet, or mourning loved ones who truly sacrificed everything in service to their country or community. 
 
Credible cases can be made for placing Nike’s Kaepernick commercial in any one of the four Mindful Marketing quadrants, particularly given the ad’s multifaceted social implications.  The ad’s effectiveness is also debatable.  However, given the strained relationship with the NFL and a likely increase in public disaffect, there’s good reason for calling the commercial “Simple-Minded Marketing.”


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    David Hagenbuch,
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    Mindful Marketing    & author of Honorable Influence

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