Resisting Category Design

Brats, a documentary (June 2024) by Andrew McCarthy, explores how the term, 'Brat Pack', coined by a journalist who wrote an article in New York Magazine in 1985, impacted McCarthy's life, as well as his emerging acting friends' lives and careers.

If you grew up in the '80s watching movies like The Outsiders, The Breakfast Club or St. Elmo's Fire, you know the Brat Prat. While an official list doesn't exist, it includes Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Judd Nelson who were the main subjects in the article. Other members considered include: Andrew McCarthy, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Ally Sheedy, Nicolas Cage, Sean Penn, Jon Cryer, Kevin Bacon, and Matthew Broderick, among a few others (or anyone in a John Hughes movie).

Throughout Brats, we see how this term seemingly destroyed confidence, relationships, and reputation. We also see that it's important to understand the mindset of the individual who was (or wanted to be) associated with this group of young actors.

Hollywood wasn't always about making movies for young adults. In fact, the 1980's was the first time Hollywood shifted to focus on films about youth and young adulthood. These talented actors were in their late teens, early 20s, just coming onto the scene, and opportunities seemed limitless. They were part of creating something different, and American youth was ready to be seen, heard, and understood.

Until the 1985 article named them 'Hollywood's Brat Pack'. If you weren't part of it, you wanted to be. If you were one of the select few (10-20 actors depending on who is part of the pack), you didn't want to be a 'Brat'.

Even your agent/publicist told you to avoid the other Brat Pack members (socially, as well as at work). Perhaps your agents gave this advice because they were worried about your reputation, after all 'brat' has a negative connotation.

Let's pause and look at it from a different perspective. One that embraces publicity and uses that opportunity to work as a team for everyone's success. In the 1990's, we saw the cast of Friends collectively negotiated better salaries by Season 3 (making more than 3x what they made in Season 1).

What if the Brat Pack embraced it, like the 'Rat Pack' embraced their elite club name? McCarthy talks about the agony, vulnerability, and various emotions he went through. He still grappled with these emotions, and almost 40 years later, made the documentary to work through his issues with the experience and attempt to let it go.

In his documentary, McCarthy meets with many members of the Brat Pack to discuss how that label impacted their lives and professional careers. It comes to light that had they framed it to be a positive nickname, things could have been different, including doing more movies together, and not carrying around this weight for so long (or any time at all).

STRATEGY IN ACTION

Each of them made a choice and followed the advice of their agents, publicists, and their own gut to distance themself from each other. The name didn't fade, as we can see nearly 40 years later. The pain didn't go away for some. What they did was reduce the opportunities for the name to continue by not working on projects together or socializing.

This is another example that Word of Mouth is the most powerful form of marketing out there.

Imagine how social media and digital marketing would have added to the intensity of this situation.

IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS

How can you apply learnings to your business from a Category Design strategy standpoint?

When things are no longer within your control, or never were in your control to begin with, ask yourself these questions:

1. How does this impact my customer?
2. Are there new problems we can solve for our customers in a different way?
3. Will this change the future? How?
4. What have our customers accepted as truth in the past, and now may question?
5. What happens if we embrace the new change?
6. What happens if we don't embrace the new change?

Word of mouth can travel fast in today's multi-media platforms. One thing is certain, and that is if you don't frame, name, and claim the problem, someone else may do it first causing you to lose control. By approaching your business with Category Design principles in mind, as you create a different future, you take control.

How many people are talking about your business and what are they saying? There are many questions to explore, and I’m here to help you explore a different future.

YOUR EXPERIENCE

Have you named a problem your customer experiences in a distinct way that captures the essence of the problem?

I'd love to hear your experience and hope you'll leave a comment below and share with others. After all, if your solution is different, you don't have to worry about the pitfalls of resisting Category Design.