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Group745
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Group745
Thought Leaders in association withPartners in Crime
Group745

Workers of the World Unite: DIY Brands Should Be Calling for a Revolution

12/12/2022
Advertising Agency
London, UK
186
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2050’s Ben Tan urges brands in the DIY category to borrow a bit of Marxism as we face economic instability

Inflation, the cost-of-living crisis and higher mortgage rates mean we’re all feeling the pinch. We’re all downsizers now. We shop at cheaper supermarkets, hold back on our urges to ‘treat yo’self’ and find  new friends in value brands. For those that have lived through more than one recession, we know it is a long haul journey and that this constant process of chipping away at previous pleasures leads to a depressing sense of relentless decline.

For many people, cutting back, and spending less will be a new or growing entry point to DIY. Here I mean DIY in the fullest sense: painting your house instead of getting decorators to do it, cooking a meal instead of going out to a restaurant, fixing things instead of buying new stuff. This should be DIY’s moment but seen through the lens of cutting back, DIY feels like yet another dispiriting way to make more make-do-and mend compromises. 

So how can brands and marketers in the DIY category navigate this catch 22? The short-term solution is to communicate value and cost saving but the more impactful long-term strategy would be to reframe people’s idea of ‘work’ and give it meaning.

The 19th century philosopher Karl Marx had a romantic view of work. In fact, ‘being creative’ better captures what he had in mind. He saw ‘being creative’ as how we shaped our world, made a difference and produced meaning in our life. When he looked at nineteenth century society, he was appalled by how workers were ‘alienated’ - that is, their creative spirit was channelled into repetitive production-line tasks and the ‘meaning’ they were creating didn’t reflect who they were.

“The work of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and, consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him.” - Karl Marx

For some time, consumerism has led us to focus less on creating meaning and more on buying it. Our world is built from countless brands imbued with personality, values and ‘lifestyles’. But all this rich meaning that surrounds and inspires us is created and owned by business, not by the people buying from them. Perhaps one can feel like the appendage of a machine. Rather than fuel this during times of economic instability, some brands have an opportunity to make more of us feel empowered to take control of our destiny. A creative message to outlive any recession.

The DIY category has a greater opportunity to do this than many others and it’s where a vision of the nobility of work can really resonate; it’s an existential act to create your world, make it meaningful and make it yours. Creativity for the good of the soul rather than just the wallet. B&Q’s 'Build a life' is a perfect example. This is a brand that champions meaningful labour, celebrates the pride we gain from using our creative powers and implicitly critiques the superficiality of buying your life ‘off the shelf’. 

This is about more than paint brushes. This is a rallying cry for a different set of values. If we look at DIY in the broader sense, other brands have done this well. Recipe box delivery services like Cookaway or Gousto aren’t synonymous with sacrificing a meal out to cook at home. Their message isn’t about cutting back, their narrative is about creativity - about learning how to cook new dishes or cuisines and having fun doing it. 

Our society too often is, however, attached to its ‘consumer’ desires, habits and identity. It’s a default setting. The irony is that to genuinely push back and outlive times of economic hardship, we need brands to bring the alternative to life and support us in making our own meaning. The brave new world might be less ‘consumerist’, but will still be branded. So rather than cave in to cost-saving, brands could advocate for an empowered creative revolution.

Credits
Work from 2050 London
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