How ‘cool’ is cool?
May 11, 2010
You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. You either love or you hate the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Yankees, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and companies like Starbucks, Microsoft and LuluLemon; there is no middle ground.All of these businesses have one thing in common: they are the biggest, most successful organizations in their industry.
These companies provide great entertainment or great products, yet they have become lightning rods for criticism. As the trendsetters, who were their customers years ago, saw the mass market adopt these icons, they moved on to smaller, alternative competitors.
It’s like the ‘alt-rock’ cycle. The XX gets great reviews on Pitchfork and the indie rock crowd eats it up, making The XX one of the coolest bands in the world. A few months later, they go mainstream and all of the alt rockers who loved them in the past move on to Charlotte Gainsbourg.
In Microsoft’s case, you are seen as ‘cool’ if you bash them. The trendsetters want to distance themselves from the mainstream so they use Google Docs, Mac OSX and an iPhone.
We were sitting around zu HQ the other day and we started talking about trends and market dominance. With Google and Apple now joining the mainstream, I asked everyone when it was going to be ‘in’ to start bashing Google. How much longer until it is cool to crush Apple’s strategy.
Albert Jame, our Creative Director thinks it will happen soon. “All of the thirty year olds who went to Lulu ten years ago aren’t doing that anymore because 12 year olds are shopping there,” he said. “When the guys with chunky glasses see the rednecks using an iPhone, they will find something else.”
“It is cool to be uncool and that is what the hipsters want,” zu’s Marketing Manager Michelle MacDonald said. “They want things that other people do not have yet because they are striving to be unique. They want to be perceived as innovators.”
For me, I think that Google and Apple are at the stage where we will start seeing the trendsetters bash them. However, both companies are still perceived as underdogs to Microsoft which is keeping them alt.
I’m interested in what you have to say, if or when, it will be cool to hate Apple or Google.Why?
Arlin Schaffel
May 11, 2010 15:24
Hating on Google and Apple is already in; you don’t have to wait. The iPod (altho a great device) has been butt of internet jokes since its announcement. Google isn’t in the limelight either; Wave or Buzz anyone?
The hate train is rolling and only going to gain steam in the coming months. This isn’t to say that everyone will stop using/buying their products, but the opportunity for cool alternatives is opening.
But hey, maybe I’m biased. #blackberryforlife
Levi Myers
May 11, 2010 15:48
We’ve definitely already passed the point where Apple and Google are free from criticism, and in trend-setting circles, bashing them is well established. The main problem is that there aren’t good alternatives, and that will keep things from progressing really far.
With music, or sports, there are no shortages of essentially equal choices—and music and sports both have an ever-changing sea of new faces. The only credible competitors to Google search are offerings from Microsoft and Yahoo, both of which are old, established, decidedly uncool companies. It might be cool to hate Apple’s business practices—especially things like their proprietary systems, indulgence in DRM, and fervent litigiousness—but until their products aren’t measurably better than their competitors, it’s unlikely we’ll see many trendsetters switching.
Like Arlin says, there’s a real opportunity for competitors here, but the cost of entry into this marketplace isn’t really comparable to something like music.
Jason Ish
May 11, 2010 20:01
Yeah, its already in to bash Google and Apple. I’ve been doing so for at least a few years now and have been warming up to Microsoft again – and Apple isn’t doing anything to make friends these days.. Still can’t get my work done in Windows, which sees me using Linux and Mac for my day-to-day work.
Andrew
May 13, 2010 09:53
Facebook is the next target. They are receiving a lot of attention lately over their privacy policy. Especially since they do not hold any significance in controlling hardware in the way that Apple, Microsoft, or Google do.
A recent Wired column sums it up:
“Facebook has gone rogue, drunk on founder Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams of world domination. It’s time the rest of the web ecosystem recognizes this and works to replace it with something open and distributed.”
Read here: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/facebook-rogue/
The New York Times is also looking towards a world that is ‘Life After Facebook’
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/is-there-life-after-facebook/?ref=technology
… as they untangle the privacy policy:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/12/business/facebook-privacy.html
Andrew
May 17, 2010 09:14
The Globe and Mail has now joined the foray: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/personal-tech/lisan-jutras/the-freak-out-over-facebook/article1570877/
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