…This is just a Punk Marketing Song

Welcome, friends, to the nineties! What a decade!

Music, art, movies, technology, everything happened in the early ’90s. Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine a dial-up modem for internet access, a 486 MHz Intel processor, a Bigfoot 1.2 gigabyte hard disk, and Windows 95. Many disruptive changes to the status quo occurred in this decade.

And it’s even hard to imagine how the underground music industry is shaking everything and creating a new mainstream. Sorry, this isn’t about Nirvana or the Seattle scene. We are currently going to sunny, beautiful California to meet Mr. Brett. Aka Bad Religion founder/guitarist.

Ops, I did it again!

We can spend lines and lines talking about Bad Religion’s legacy, but that is not our goal.

Today, we will talk about Epitaph Records and the best marketing plan from the 90s.

When Bad Religion started to write their first songs, Brett Gurewitz had an idea to found at the same time a Record Company. His vision was to avoid the Mainstream. And to produce everything without commercial interference.

What a DIY act! What a punk-rocker guy!

In 1981, Bad Religion released their debut album under Epitaph Records. Not really a whole album, an eponymous EP with 6 songs. An authentic experience for Brett and Epitaph. Not a fancy and perfect production, just a punk rock vibe based on Greg Graffin’s political/social poetry.

As the years passed, and under Epitaph, Bad Religion released several albums. In 1987, the recording company became a Label and released their first album outside Bad Religion stuff – a debut from the L7 girls. And again, not the best production, but this album captures the L7 atmosphere and puts the band on the map.

New, fresh artists came to Epitaph, bands such as Offspring, Rancid and NOFX released some historic albums. But Brett and his creative entrepreneurship were looking for more.

In 1993, Brett received a special call from the young Kelly Slater. And the Surfer World Champion asked Brett if he could include some Epitaph artists’ songs in the video production he was creating. At that point, a game-changing plan came into Brett’s mind:

Hey man! Of course. I will give you free songs. You just need to include a description of the song, the band name, and Epitaph rights. If you do this, you can use as many as you need.

Booom!!

The world discovered Offspring, Rancid, NOFX and the entire Epitaph catalogue. With this “outside the box” action, Brett Gurewitz put Epitaph bands in the Mainstream without any Commercial requirement. Just punk rock songs going on the waves. Skate, Bike and all radical sports are looking at Epitaph with their radical songs inventory for promotional videos.

It was the beginning of the marriage between Sports and Punk Music, and they have been together ever since. (If you disagree, try to watch a surfer in a tube listening to Hey Jude.

Surf this sunny text with these:
NOFX – The Cause
Bad Religion – Punk Rock Song
L7 – Metal Stamped

A pressure performance

I saw an opportunity to write concurrently with a digital planner while doing my current job as a line cook at Cora’s – one of the best Breakfast and Lunch places here in London. I have seen similarities between the two jobs that lead to different points of view.

Nowadays, I’m running / managing a few digital campaigns. In Canada, I don’t have any opportunities. My only opportunity has been in Brazil, where I started managing a new project. Still, I am using this break in my professional career to focus on and improve my English.

At the beginning of everything, let us reflect: “Always apply what you learn to your work because it makes a difference in your professional skills”.

Once the order is on the board, it’s time to do your best and make the perfect quality of the menu. It seems simple. Still, when it’s near rush hour, in Cora’s case, about 11:30 am until 1 pm, about 5 big orders at the same time can cause chaos, and the pressure takes us all in line. The problem is how to keep a standard of attention to so many orders?

It is the same client pressure at the campaign setup stage. After a discussion with your client to settle the goals of the campaign, develop a briefing and, of course, do brainstorming with the crew. It’s time to go on!

Sometimes it doesn’t work like this. We need to develop the standards, create the personas, and analyze the best channels to optimize the budget. n the other hand, the client is pressing because he has lost money and has seen competitors doing a great job in digital marketing.

How do we manage the anxiety of both types of clients? They have the highest expectations!

Stay focused and create your own ways of acting, then gradually improve them!

Even outside the job, you practice and learn to be a better professional. In other words: study, find your best version and optimize your work time.

You are not born knowing everything. You had a mentor, classes, courses, and podcasts. Everybody will be trying to show their “best moves.” Don’t become a copy of them. Prove yourself and be a “beta” version, and be proud of the changes.

On my first day in a Canadian kitchen, I was introduced to so much information that I was freaking out. I had to think like a Canadian with native English. All the explanations, everything like cutting, functions, and base preparations. My guide during this immersion thought I was Canadian, too. That was insane!

With this “basic” problem, I left Cora’s for the first time, got on the bus, and came home. I went straight to Cora’s website to see the menu, started a journey to find my limitations, and tried to understand every word I absorbed. Plates, names, precision, I planned my second day based on my own knowledge and my improved understanding of Cora’s procedures. I created the first concept for my duties and moved on to the second day.

The days passed by and new teachers showed their best moves With this knowledge, I had started to create a new version of me, with my rhythm and my own style In three weeks, I have been promoted to chef section and now I worked alone, attend the orders with Cora’s quality but with my own style I created the new set up and put it in action.

And so, always remember to read the tickets! No matter where they came from: brainstorm, client history, relatives, competitors, recipe and so on!

Suggest a set list to read this:

David Bowie – Changes

Inspiral Carpets – Two worlds collide

Gilberto Gil – Cérebro Eletrônico