The recent release of David Bowie’s new album sent a major shock wave through the music industry and caused many ‘respectable’ and ‘serious’ programmes and publications to fall over themselves in fawning admiration. There is no doubt that he has succeeded in re-inventing the concept of the album launch and has made it an event again.
What has been given less coverage are the lessons that can be applied to politicians from Bowie’s approach.
- Communications – Bowie’s whole approach to launching this album has been on the basis of a real understanding of the nature of modern communications. He has given away power to his fans and made them part of the event – giving them control over the marketing. We are becoming used to the citizen as journalist, community activist, pundit and commentator generating their own content and with them deciding how to consume their media. We now have the citizen as Bowie fan taking part in the marketing across the globe. The power of communication was given to citizens.
- Age – Bowie is now 66 and used the occasion of his birthday in January to make the announcement about new music. Political parties have become focused on youth as the basis for their appeal to the electorate rather than age or experience. Bowie showed that this remains a viable way forward.
- The leader – all those connected to Bowie during the two year production of the new music kept the whole project totally secret. Not a single word leaked. This demonstrates that if the leader is respected then the clearly defined vision can be achieved. It is though up to the leader to define that vision and to bind people into it.
- Long term thinking – the launch and the interest it has generated would not have been possible without the development of a long term strategy. This all took time to plan, execute and, importantly, work out how to maintain interest. We are now three months after the initial announcements and the Today programme are still running stories. There is a back story, a mystery and the whole shock factor of the unveiling of the first track. There does, however, remain the need for the product to be good. Otherwise the flip side of this movement and empowerment is the backlash. But this is David Bowie and the album is good.
- Media motivation – Bowie proved that the media can be displaced from their usual positions and are interested in new ideas. They can be wrong-footed with a carefully structured campaign. This campaign has adopted an innovative approach to traditional, online and social media. It included not just the launch of new music but images and the opportunity of an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum. The otherwise jaded media took note – not many rock artists get featured on the Today programme, let alone on consecutive days.
Politicians need to take note of all these lessons if they are to be successful and engage effectively with the electorate.
Whether Bowie actually meant to set the agenda for politicians is another matter…alternatively, you could put a white square over this blog.