These are the two real reasons most brands can’t do Yeti-level video work.
They are not committed to the strategy.
They haven’t empowered the creatives.
Every week I speak with brands who want to make videos, and the conversation inevitably leads to Yeti. Everyone wants to do Yeti-quality video, but very few are willing to embrace what that actually means. Yeti makes great videos because they are committed to the strategy and committed to working with great creative storytellers. And, they've been committed for over a decade. There's no growth hack here. It's just a lot of creative grinding that builds the brand.
A recent quote from Yeti CEO Matt Reintjes in Fast Company punctuated this point and I think it's essential reading for anyone in brand marketing right now, especially those who pine for Yeti-level video work.
“Brands face multiple points in their journey where they can be deep and relevant, but at the expense of growth and expansion, or they can chase growth and they forget about the depth of connections that they had already built…Over time, you erode brand value, you erode uniqueness, you erode support and passion for who you are. And so we’ve been really thoughtful about how we drive breadth, adding on more communities, bringing in more consumers domestically, growing the brand internationally, all while also keeping those deep and connected roots all the way back to our earliest communities.”
Yes, it takes budget too. A quick look at Yeti’s financials reveals they did over $400m in sales last quarter, so there’s that. But they haven’t always been that big, and Yeti’s commitment to producing serious video long predates these earnings.
We are just now entering the post-social era and marketers are experiencing a big reckoning that’s self-inflicted. For a long time, we measured our success and value for clients in impressions, clicks and views without ever really knowing the true value of these nano actions. We chased growth over deeper brand building.
We built campaigns on shallow insights, justified large spends and showed ROI on these tiny little actions that supposedly showed purchase intent awareness or that someone just liked you. While growth marketing and paid marketing are incredibly effective in achieving certain goals, they’re not enough to build a lasting brand. It’s just one reason we see a lot of DTC brands struggle right now.
In marketing, we overly-embraced social. We incorporated the language of VCs and startups chasing rapid growth into our campaigns and pitches and regurgitated it to clients. But social media didn’t work. It actually broke us. Just look at what it’s doing to kids, our athletes, and our attention spans. Study after study shows it’s toxic for our brains.
Since we in marketing married social so enthusiastically, where does that leave us?
I’d argue we need to get back to speaking about brand building and making real connections to our audiences in legitimate ways. Experiences. Deep storytelling. Authentic ambassadors.
I believe that now we’re going to see brands embrace deeper formats for brand storytelling. That means video, Substacks and subscription newsletters, and branded content campaigns with capable publisher partners.
It harder. It takes longer to do this. It’s more expensive. But it’s real and it lasts.
Just look at Yeti.
More on Yeti’s video strategy in Fast Company.
Reading this Week
All about the iconic 808 drum machine. (Why Is This Interesting)
I don’t usually go for food writing, but I’ve really been enjoying Supersonic, the substack from Blackbird. Maybe it’s because it’s more about the rituals and culture of dining, not the food itself. Regardless, I’m very into “The Regular” theme this month and will be following closely. Those who want tips on how to market to B2B and B2C audiences simultaneously should pay attention too. (Supersonic)
Spend a little time editing (Even those text messages), it will go a long way. In favor of simple writing (The Economist)
Generative AI, SEO, and what leaders should know: Google search in the future. (Insight Partners)
It’s wild that all this sea life is so close. Whales, From Above. (New York Times)
This podcast looks very promising: The Legend of Miki Dora (Lost Hills)
Q&A: Jeff Jarvis on what the magazine was. (Columbia Journalism Review)
Watching
This one from The New Yorker hooked me right in.
I can’t embed the video, but here’s a solid campaign for GMC from my former colleagues at Gear Patrol called Mettle Work. Visuals are A+.
Listening
My wife went deep into an Emile Mosseri rabbit hole recently. We cued up a movie (Minari) not knowing anything about it, but just because we knew Mosseri scored it. Then last week we went to see him at National Sawdust and…damn. It was one of those magical concerts that makes you feel like the Earth shifted on its access just a little bit.
Content Coverage Submissions
Have you worked on an interesting project? Have you seen a good video or have a photo project to suggest? Share your favorite pieces of content here and I’ll include the best in this newsletter.