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19th Sept 2005 - So that's postmodernism

Postmodernism is a subject of huge importance to anyone working with brands and communications which (much like the equally important world of semiotics) has been poorly served by the literature written about it, mired in jargon, obscure theory and unusable conclusions.

The result? Rather than embrace what will become (maybe is already) the prevailing worldview for coming decades, many label 'postmodern' as a fad, and so ignore it, or see it as little more than the latest window dressing, something you 'do' superficially (missing the point so significantly, it would have been better to do nothing).

But even if you've smelt the coffee, it's not necessarily any easier. I would consider myself a postmodern kind of guy, but I've struggled with, and got bogged down in, all the obtuse stuff that has been written. And as a consequence have found it a similar struggle to convince others of what should be self evident truth - unsurprising when you can barely progress beyond an inarticulate "but it's just right".

Then you read something that strips away the intellectualism and you go "oh yeah, that's it". For me this came at the weekend. And not from reading an academic journal or the latest hot marketing 'must read'. It actually came from a book on how the Christian church needs to change if it is to remain relevant in a postmodern world (The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations by Dan Kimball).

Running roughshod over 50 years of academic obfuscation, it made the most significant cultural shift in the West since the Enlightenment seem very simple indeed.

• In the modern world facts were delivered to individuals which influenced their beliefs and so their behaviour.
• In a postmodern world, experiences are had by groups which influences their behaviour and so their beliefs.

That's it. It's that simple. And it's why an industry such as advertising, which sells itself as being on the cultural cutting edge is in danger of being horribly out of touch on a grand scale. Because, when you get down to it, the world of advertising is, in the main, a thoroughly modern one, rooted in propositions and RTBs, all designed to change what people believe.

But that isn't how the world/Western culture/people work any more…which maybe explains why advertising is so mistrusted nowadays: it's not just that people are more media literate, and can see through the artifice (although obviously they are…and can) but that, window dressing aside, most marketing and advertising today is still rooted in another age…and will be seen as such by a postmodern consumer.

Not rocket science I know, but at least I now feel able to explain in one sentence why we shouldn't fixate on product benefits, and why agonising over the proposition on a creative brief may be missing the point somewhat.

Obviously, we are talking about emerging culture. Many people will be as modern as the communications we aim at them. But things will change. And to succeed going forward, we will need to look beyond the 'facts' and 'insights' that drove us in the past, and instead immerse ourselves in the collective experiences and stories that will make our brands and companies relevant and meaningful in a postmodern world.

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