Code word: Empty

I’ve been paying more attention to media lately. I am enthralled by cultural trends and look for them everywhere: music, blogs, news outlets, news-y outlets, even celebrity gossip sites. Every day is a deep dive into a blizzard of warring mediums and messages, and the key to interpreting them and recognizing trends is to suspend any sense of self and not think too much. Do it right and you just might get a teensy-weensy bit of insight into the river of American consumption, momentarily tapping in to the lifeblood of consumer marketing for financial gain at the expense of a little bit of your soul. Do it wrong, and, well, there’s just the soul part.

It is satisfying to turn something seemingly complicated into something obvious, kind of like those hidden pictures within the picture posters from the 80s. There is a formula for everything a consumer does, and all marketers have to do is figure it out. A PBS Frontline episode, titled "The Persuaders," features Clotaire Rapaille, a Frenchman who likens this formula to a “code.” Fortune 500 CMOs pay Rapaille gobs of money to learn their brands’ codes and teach them how to infuse them into their products and marketing campaigns. After a series of focus groups and staggeringly simple primary research practices, Rapaille discovered that the code for SUVs in American culture is not big, not powerful, not spacious, but domination. Make SUVs about domination and they will sell, Rapaille concluded.

The segment with Rapaille was only a few minutes long, but his influence on Big Auto can be seen every day on American streets. The Hummer, once a utilitarian military vehicle and then the plaything of the rich, has become a gas-guzzling behemoth for rich people of all walks. Domination, as it turns out, provides no allowance for caring about the environment. The Dodge Nitro, as scary looking as it is sounding, is featured in an ad electrocuting a dog that dares get too close. Look around at American SUVs very long and you’ll start wondering if the primary design of these vehicles has less to do with shuttling the kids to soccer practice than it does slaughtering the rest of the neighborhood.

When I think about Apple the code that comes to my mind is simplicity. Obviously their products are simple to use: the iPhone lets you see who has left you voicemail without requiring you to listen to all your messages; there is only one very easy way to get content on a new Air book (hint: it doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive); and you don’t have to worry about leaving your iPod on as it doesn’t even have a power button (show me someone who’s even opened an iPod owner’s manual and I’ll show you someone who is out of the brand’s sweet spot). Ask an Apple user why they love their device and they’ll usually start with something like “it’s just so easy to use.” Apple product design espouses simplicity over functionality, creating a technically inferior product (most PCs exceed their Apple counterparts in nearly every meaningful category except price) that is simple to use and looks gorgeous.

The creed of simplicity does not stop in Apple’s product team, it also shows up in their website, long considered a bastion of good design by interactive marketers across all industries. Even their ads, which usually pit Joe Everyman against a Microsoft suit, scream “Apple easy, PC hard.”

If the keyword for Apple is simplicity, you might start making other assumptions about the behavior of its brand loyalists. People who dress simply hip (if you work in a store, simply in all black), eat simply (with a nod toward healthy foods and locally-cultivated produce), and drive inexpensive, practical vehicles. Apple users do not drive Hummers and Dodge Nitros. They gather together regularly to listen to irresistibly simple pop music (Feist, Death Cab for Cutie) and drink no-water Chai lattes at Starbucks.

Which brings me to another example. After spending nearly two years interacting with the surprisingly-likable Starbucks marketing department, I’m learning the code to the Starbucks brand is familiar. You don’t go to Starbucks because it’s the world’s most delicious coffee (by objective measures, at least, it actually sucks), you go because it is familiar. The pleasing hues of green and caramel inspire feelings of comfort, like being at home on a cool Saturday morning drinking coffee with your family, maybe reading a favorite book. General Mills nailed that code years ago, imploring consumers to “celebrate the moments of your life.” (Jean-Luc!) That you can have that same familiar experience - right down to the chalkboard daily messages from your barista - in any of the 6,000+ North American locations contributes mightily to their success as a brand. Dunkin’ Donuts missed it (no one wants to spend a lot of time in an orange and pink store), despite serving what is widely considered to be better coffee.

If you accept that the Starbucks code is familiar, you can probably make some assumptions about what its brand aficionados might like. Apple did, and inked several big deals with the coffee giant. Aside from Apple products, your typical Starbucks loyalist probably wears designer jeans, carries a messenger bag, loves Dyson vacuum cleaners and is more likely than not to drive a Volkswagen.

Walmart’s code is not “cheap” like you might expect. Several months with their marketing group pushed me off that all too reflexive classification. Instead, I believe the Walmart code is mall. Walmart stores actually contain several mini-stores (pharmacy, photos, clothes, toys, groceries, household items, jewelry, etc), mimicking the structure of an actual mall with multiple retailers. Going to Walmart is an event, a destination, much like going to the mall was when I was a kid. It’d be pretty easy to make the case that you could live quite a comfortable life shopping *exclusively* at Walmart (note: I said comfortable, not rewarding). Regular Walmart shoppers buy music hipsters tired of six months earlier, wear clothes just a couple years removed from being all the rage, and play an inordinate amount of video games (after all, when you only need to shop at one store, you spend a lot of time in the house).

None of those examples may strike you as particularly observant, but they make for good practice. It gets harder with less ubiquitous brands, or brands that don’t have the world’s best marketers driving their adoption, but it can be done. Even if you lose a little soul in the process.