Lecture 7- Cultural Strategy Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is blue Ocean?
In order to develop a future-leading businesses, companies must reject the conventions of the category to craft ‘value innovations’ that have no direct competition.
A new market space created through innovation—not just in product, but in meaning and culture.
Here, you don’t fight the competition—you make it irrelevant by doing something totally different. You’re not selling just a product; you’re selling a cultural idea.
Focus: Creating new value that taps into unmet or emerging desires
Strategy: Innovate with ideology, myth, and cultural codes
Reward: Brand stands out, resonates deeply, builds loyalty
What is “market mythmaking”?
The strategic creation of compelling cultural myths that help brands connect with societal tensions and consumer anxieties.
What is a “myth” in Consumer Culture Theory?
A symbolic story that resolves cultural tensions and delivers ideological meaning—not a lie, but a cultural tool.
What are the 4 functions of myths (according to Chapter 13)?
Cosmological: Explain existential questions (Helps people understand the universe and their place in it.)
Psychological: Inspire personal transformation (Helps individuals grow, evolve, and find inner strength.)
Sociological: Strengthen group identity ( Myths affirm what a society or community values and bring people together.)
Ideological: Justify social structures (Myths can either naturalize power structures or challenge them.)
What is “cultural strategy”?
A brand-building approach that uses ideology, myth, and cultural codes to position products meaningfully in society.
What are “Red Oceans” vs. “Blue Oceans”?
Red Oceans: Saturated markets focused on functional/emotional benefits
Blue Oceans: New cultural spaces created through innovative cultural expression
Why do mainstream marketing models (mindshare) fail?
They focus on product features or vague emotions, ignoring societal shifts and ideological tensions.
What is “Cultural Orthodoxy”?
➡️ The dominant cultural expressions in a market category—brands that follow it become indistinct.
What is the role of ideology in cultural strategy?
Ideology is a worldview or belief system shared by a group. Cultural strategy challenges or redefines it to create value.
What is the 6-stage Cultural Innovation Model (from the slide + chapter)?
Identify cultural orthodoxy
Recognize social disruptions
Spot emerging ideological desires
Source cultural resources (subcultures, media)
Mythologize brand with ideology + story
Launch timely, culturally resonant strategy
What are “cultural codes”?
➡️ Symbols, images, language, and aesthetics that help convey and activate a brand’s myth and ideology.
What makes cultural expressions valuable to consumers?
➡️ They help make sense of identity, provide emotional resonance, and offer functional tools for living in society.
Nike’s Mythological Innovation?
➡️ “Combative Solo Willpower” → succeed through personal grit, even in unjust systems.
What was the cultural disruption behind Nike’s rise?
➡️ Collapse of the American Dream in the 1970s–80s → Americans sought new meaning in success.
How did Nike use subcultural resources?
➡️ Tapped into running, then the African-American ghetto, to create powerful, rebellious cultural codes.
Why did Nike’s tech-based strategies fail in the early ‘80s?
➡️ They reverted to “better-mousetrap” logic, which lacked emotional and ideological relevance.
Hero’s Journey in mythmaking
a storytelling framework popularized by Joseph Campbell in his book ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’.It describes a universal narrative pattern found in myths, movies, books, and—yes—branding and consumer culture.
Basic structure of Hero’s Journey
- Ordinary World: Hero starts off in normal everyday setting.
- The Call to Adventure: Something disrupts the ordinary—an invitation to a challenge or new world.
- Refusal of Call: At first, the hero resists (fear, doubt, anxiety).
- Meeting the Mentor:
A guide appears—this could be a wise person or even a brand offering tools or values.
5.Crossing the Threshold:
The hero commits to the journey—no turning back now.
- Tests, Allies, Enemies:
Obstacles appear. The hero struggles, grows, and gathers strength. - The Ordeal: The hero facts their biggest fear or challenge. This is the emotional climax.
- The Reward: Victory! Transformation! New identity!
- The Return with the Elixir:
The hero returns to the ordinary world, but now changed—and ready to share what they’ve learned.
Branding through Archetypal character
It means using universal character types (called archetypes) in branding to give your brand a recognizable personality that deeply resonates with people, across cultures and time.
This idea comes from Carl Jung, who believed our collective unconscious is full of symbolic roles we all instinctively understand—like the Hero, Rebel, Lover, or Sage.
What is Red Ocean
=Bloody Competition
-The existing market space where businesses fiercely compete.
Think of it like a shark tank—everyone’s fighting over the same customers with similar products. It’s “dog-eat-dog,” margins are thin, and it’s all about beating the competition.
Focus: Product performance or emotional benefits (e.g. “better” or “cheaper”)
Strategy: Compete on price, features, or brand awareness
Risk: Brands blend into each other; customers can’t tell them apart.
2 types of blue Ocean
- Technological innovation
-Creating a new market through tech breakthroughs and smart commercialization.
Examples:
The iPhone (new smartphone tech)
Tesla (EV tech + clean energy branding)
Netflix (streaming tech disrupting DVDs)
- Mix & Match Innovation
Creating new value by combining ideas from different categories in clever ways.
Take two mature markets → combine their value propositions to create something new.
Example
