Moolah-making marketing secrets from Macklemore

So I was listening to Macklemore’s famous “Thrift Shop” song recently (which has over 1.5 billion views)…

And what struck me was…

From a marketing and psychology perspective, it’s freaking BRILLIANT.

The entire song is tongue-in-cheek. It’s fun and humorous.

The song starts out with Macklemore wearing a ridiculous oversized faux fur coat and riding a secondhand child’s scooter.

And his entourage of people around him are also wearing ridiculous clothes and riding with him. One guy is wearing rollerblades, another man is being pushed in a stroller, and another woman is being rolled down the road in an office chair.

…All random stuff they bought at the thrift shop.

Anyway, he’s brilliant at reframing.

He talks about how incredibly awesome it is to shop at the thrift shop, and how cool his clothes are.

And he makes all the dorky secondhand clothes he finds seem like the coolest thing in the world.

While making “cool” designer clothes seem stupid and lame.

From the song:

“They be like, ‘Oh, that Gucci. That’s hella tight.’

“I’m like, yo that’s fifty dollars for a T-shirt. I call that getting swindled and pimped. I call that getting tricked by a business.

“And having the same [shirt] as six other people in this club is a hella don’t. Trying to get girls from a brand? Then you hella won’t.”

(That burn though lol 🔥 so good)

Anyway, that’s just one example.

But the entire song is a great example of reframing.

Making something that’s otherwise dorky look super cool.

And another thing I noticed about the song is…

It shows the importance of having FUN in your work.

Because if you’re having fun while you create it, your audience is gonna have fun when they consume it.

That’s the Law of State Transference.

And in the video, you can tell that Macklemore must have had an absolute blast filming it… clowning around in ridiculous costumes from the thrift shop and rapping humorous lyrics.

Anyway, there are several marketing takeaways you can learn from it.

1. Whatever you’re selling, it’s essential to have a strong “frame” — where you position your product as the coolest thing ever, and any competing products as dorky and lame. Just as Macklemore does with thrift shop clothes versus overpriced designer clothes.

2. It’s important to have FUN while you’re creating your work, because that feeling will show through and your audience will pick up on it, and they’ll have fun as well. That’s the Law of State Transference.

3. It helps to have a sense of humor and make your content somewhat “tongue in cheek.” (It’s clear Macklemore doesn’t take himself too seriously. He has a humorous attitude in everything he does, which makes him entertaining).

Powerful takeaways for anyone looking to master the art of infotainment and brand-building, if I do say so myself.

-Beau D. Schultz

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