Get Off My Lawn! Why is Mark is So Mad?!

As a singer-songwriter and a co-owner of a digital marketing firm, it’s not often that both sides of my brain synch up, but there’s a store at the Nashville airport that’s wrapped in giant stock-photo graphics of “musicians,” and I genuinely cannot stop thinking about how spectacularly insulting and short-sighted it is.

Not because it sells really badly designed merch, which it also does… but generic A.I infused “city pride” merch is unfortunately unavoidable in this day and age I fear.

No, this is worse. Much worse.

What makes it so frustrating is the missed opportunity.

Nashville is one of the few cities in America where artistry is still a critical part of the infrastructure.

It’s one of the things that made me fall in love with this place. The mortgage lender doesn’t laugh you out of the bank when you say you’re a musician (unlike Australia).

Serious people take you seriously when you say you’re a songwriter. (Unlike Australia)

The novelty part of the conversation is reserved for when they pick up on the accent: “Where are you from? Australia? It’s on my bucket list. How long’s that flight? 17hrs? Oh I could never… and there’s too many snakes and spiders!”

But I digress…

This store is trading on the cultural equity of Nashville while completely ignoring, no - insulting,  the creators who actually put the “music” in “Music City”.

From a marketing perspective, this feels painfully short-sighted!

Imagine if instead of generic models, awkwardly holding a microphone, the exterior walls featured real, local artists and bands. There are literally tens of thousands of people who walk past this store daily, all ready to party and find their new favorite artists. What an opportunity for a developing act?!

Imagine QR codes introducing travelers to emerging local artists before they even get to baggage claim.

Imagine sponsors funding discovery instead of just visibility.

Imagine the store having a couple of shelves dedicated to local artists’ merch! Woah. What if it was the merch from some of the performers at the bars in the airports?

And the irony is that attention & authenticity have never been more valuable than they are right now.

And here’s a chance to combine both and it’s right under their nose.

The only reason I can think of to NOT do it would be that someone at corporate said it’s not “brand safe.”

While not exactly corporate America, marketing for the Fair industry has also become strangely addicted to “safe.” Sure people throw around words like “bold” and “edgy” but then they’ll proceed to do the exact same campaign and programming year after year.

Audiences are exhausted by generic experiences. Every report in entertainment and experiential marketing points to the same thing: people don’t want to just be a metric in a reach and frequency campaign, they want to actually FEEL something!

But instead, the industry keeps choosing safe.

Safe TV spots.

Safe radio ads.

Safe graphics & imagery.

Marketing departments talk about “engagement” while stripping every ounce of humanity out of the creative.

And that’s the tragedy of these kinds of missed opportunities… They’re so obvious and require not much more than thinking about things differently.

There are some notable exceptions of course: Speed dating on the ferris wheel at the Clay County Fair in Florida - Bravo! And I might be biased, but the Agriculture is Our Culture campaign at The Big E - wow! and the Relationships Video series for the Indiana State Fair - spot on!

These guys are all definitely thinking differently.

So here’s a final question before I endeth my unsolicited sermon…

Are YOU missing an obvious opportunity in your event’s marketing, that’s the equivalent of a “stock photo of a bad, musically-talentless actor, holding a microphone in Music City?”

Ps Disclaimer - the Nashville airport authority itself actually does a great job. The live performances throughout the terminals at places like Tootsies, Ole Red, and the various satellite stages are genuinely cool.

There are real musicians playing real songs for real people every single day, and that absolutely matters. The city should be proud of that effort.

And then there's this one corporate store…with one really shitty graphic.