Happy St. Patrick’s Day and congratulations and best wishes to New York Governor David Patterson. Patterson takes over after a week of sordid and titillating news about Eliot Spitzer.
As the stories of Spitzer continue to come out, I wanted to highlight two symbolic identity elements involving the former gov and the now (in)famous Emperors’ Club.
First with Spitzer, he (and his political advisers) created a symbolic persona of one that fights crime and more specifically government corruption. This key element is now lost as he moved money around to hide the fact that he was spending thousands on prostitutes. His symbolic identity has imploded. All symbolic dramas have the seeds of their destruction sewn in there “genesis” story. When those items are no longer grounded in reality the vision collapses. Cheating one one’s spouse is not illegal, prostitution is. So, now the one wanting to stop corruption and crime, especially in government, becomes the criminal. From brand perspective, we need to be diligent about protecting and grounding an authentic persona with our constituents.
Now, a bit more lighthearted example with The Emperors’ Club. Part of the club’s appeal was to be highly educated, sophisticated women. Clearly, not the main value prop, but part of the identity. I liked seeing screen shots of the site (which has been disabled) with no apostrophe on the site design and what appears to be one of the product/services with a prison-yard tat on her hand. I suppose if you pay enough, you can stick the apostrophe anywhere you want.
As the stories of Spitzer continue to come out, I wanted to highlight two symbolic identity elements involving the former gov and the now (in)famous Emperors’ Club.
First with Spitzer, he (and his political advisers) created a symbolic persona of one that fights crime and more specifically government corruption. This key element is now lost as he moved money around to hide the fact that he was spending thousands on prostitutes. His symbolic identity has imploded. All symbolic dramas have the seeds of their destruction sewn in there “genesis” story. When those items are no longer grounded in reality the vision collapses. Cheating one one’s spouse is not illegal, prostitution is. So, now the one wanting to stop corruption and crime, especially in government, becomes the criminal. From brand perspective, we need to be diligent about protecting and grounding an authentic persona with our constituents.
Now, a bit more lighthearted example with The Emperors’ Club. Part of the club’s appeal was to be highly educated, sophisticated women. Clearly, not the main value prop, but part of the identity. I liked seeing screen shots of the site (which has been disabled) with no apostrophe on the site design and what appears to be one of the product/services with a prison-yard tat on her hand. I suppose if you pay enough, you can stick the apostrophe anywhere you want.
(Hat tip to Andrew for the insight on the apostrophe.)
Take-aways:
Your symbolic identity already contains the seeds for its destruction.
When you can’t ground the vision, the vision declines (some more rapidly than others)
Take-aways:
Your symbolic identity already contains the seeds for its destruction.
When you can’t ground the vision, the vision declines (some more rapidly than others)
2 comments:
Great post. I love the photo, and the disjunction between the high-class and low-rent aspects of the "club." Plus, isn't that Spitzer's payee?
Yes, that's her. Maybe you need to pay more for the tat.
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