The Next Engine: Beyond Campaign Thinking

I’m a tattoo guy, go ahead, call me white trash if you must. I know I’m not alone, a recent study showed that 1 in 7 high school students had a tattoo before a driver’s license, with 1 in 4 having one before a diploma.

This kind of thing really interests me as it brings with it a significant change in societal perceptions. Well, at least I think it could. Tattoos and body art aren’t just a thing for bikers and bandits anymore, simply put, they’re pretty mainstream. I’m hearing more and more stories about brands using tattoos as a marketing device; and just yesterday, Kevin Dudash, the brand manager for Bryant showed me a kick ass picture of a tattoo one of their dealer service folks had done of their icon, Bryantman.

I was first thinking about writing this post as an opinion piece based on the maturation of Millenials and new trends they are bringing with them, specifically tattoos in the workplace/boardroom. I’m fascinated by the generation gap we’re starting to see and you’ll hear more of this from me if you read this blog with any regularity. (Then again, maybe I’m just selfishly assessing the degree of obnoxiousness the Old English D on my wrist has among my colleagues).

Nonetheless, I even asked a pal Aki Spicer over at Fallon in Minneapolis for any experiences he had with the topic. He shared a really interesting thought:

“I feel like there is a new permissiveness in the boardroom, led by youth values. I see, and hear more demands for women and multicultural presence and pov, looser clothing restrictions in general (even though agencies always get a pass on looking “edgy” compared to most fields), and I certainly don’t think having a tattoo hinders a career in any way (as it may have at one time). Bigger than tatts, is just a trend toward increased diversity and diverse voices in the boardroom.”

By the way, his planning team runs a great blog, check it out when you get a second.

So rather than bore you with my opinion, which, given the amount of ink straining my bloodstream at the moment should be pretty clear, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I agree with Aki that it’s much bigger than tats and that there is a real influx of new thinking hitting corporate America for the first time in a while — any thankfully, a growing and genuine hunger for it.

What do you think? Take a second and answer these questions:

1. Do you have any tattoos, piercings or body art? Yes or No
2. Which of the following statements do you most agree with?

• I think body art is an acceptable form of self-expression and carries no negative connotations.
• It’s ok for people to have body art, but it should be covered up and kept personal.
• People with tattoos creep me out.

On a scale of a 1-5 with 5 being the strongest, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements:

3. If I were interviewing a candidate for a job, I’d be concerned about their integrity if they had visible body art.

4. I consider body art to be a welcome form of diversity.

If you’d rather email than post, hit me up at cingle AT campbell-ewald DOT com.

Later.

Tags: culture, marketing, millenials, tattoos, youth