Why there'll never be another Johnny Carson and why that makes our job as marketers that much harder.
Just got back from vacation this week. While I was off, I had the opportunity to read a collection of essays from one of my favourite writers. His name is Chuck Klosterman and he bills himself as a Pop Culture Critic. (Perhaps you've read one of his articles in Esquire, or one of his books. I highly recommend Sex Drugs and Coco Puffs.) He writes brilliantly about everything from celebrity to music to advertising to why there'll never be another Johnny Carson....which got me thinking about what that means for our industry. Here's why...
As Klosterman tells it, after Johnny Carson died, he kept hearing media types say that there'll never be another Johnny Carson. Klosterman says there very well could be another human being who is as funny, self-deprecating, and talented as Carson. However, there will never be a centrifugal cultural force like Johnny Carson again. Ever. There will never be a (quote) Johnny Carson (unquote) or a (quote) Walter Cronkite (unquote) for that matter. And the reason?
When Johnny Carson ruled the airwaves there were only three major television networks. There was no internet. There was no cable. There was Carson. A book. Or bedtime. Ask anyone, even around the world what Heeeerrrre's Johnny refers to and everyone knows. Everyone.
To Klosterman, Carson represented the one place all of North America went before they went to bed. Every night. There was a common understanding and appreciation of his contribution. You didn't choose between Carson and...anyone else. You chose Carson. Arguably, his loss represents the loss of a singular common positive experience.
Today, Klosterman argues, we are inundated with choice. From our credit cards to our McDonalds Menu Items to the 500 channels on our PVR.
Is this a bad thing? Maybe. Maybe not. But Klosterman thinks that maybe it makes for just a bit of a lonelier existence. We determine our own Personal Rogers On-Demand TV programming. We network virtually on Facebook and through email alone from behind our personal keyboards. We can even watch television on our own tiny iPod screens while we're in transit, all alone, on our crowded street car.
And of course, because we all have so much choice when it comes to how we consume our popular culture, including our advertising messages, our job as marketers is that much more challenging. That's not news anymore. But it is inspiring.
We may have lost that singular common positive experience (which is a little sad frankly from a cultural perspective). But from a marketing perspective, it's made room for much more opportunity -- if you're willing to accept the challenge.
