Mining business wisdom from Drake lyrics.
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“I been me since Scarlett Road, ay, road, ay.”
Drake, “God’s Plan”
Does reputation matter in business?
On the one hand, of course it does. On the other hand, eh, maybe not really.
Despite a litany of reputation-destroying scandals over the years, I still do business with a number of sullied corporate names out of convenience and, more often, pure cheapness.
I still take Ubers. I still fly United. I still use Facebook-owned Whatsapp. I still eat at Chipotle’s.
And I don’t even feel remotely guilty about doing those things.
For the sake of this article, though, let’s assume that reputation is important in business. Why is it important?
According to the Harvard Bidness (sic) Review (HBR):
Executives know the importance of their companies’ reputations. Firms with strong positive reputations attract better people. They are perceived as providing more value, which often allows them to charge a premium. Their customers are more loyal and buy broader ranges of products and services. Because the market believes that such companies will deliver sustained earnings and future growth, they have higher price-earnings multiples and market values and lower costs of capital. Moreover, in an economy where 70% to 80% of market value comes from hard-to-assess intangible assets such as brand equity, intellectual capital, and goodwill, organizations are especially vulnerable to anything that damages their reputations.
The same HBR article discusses one way a company’s reputation can be put at risk, when it’s projected image and values are different from it’s actions. This is known as the reputation-reality gap:
Effectively managing reputational risk begins with recognizing that reputation is a matter of perception. A company’s overall reputation is a function of its reputation among its various stakeholders (investors, customers, suppliers, employees, regulators, politicians, nongovernmental organizations, the communities in which the firm operates) in specific categories (product quality, corporate governance, employee relations, customer service, intellectual capital, financial performance, handling of environmental and social issues)…Reputation is distinct from the actual character or behavior of the company and may be better or worse. When the reputation of a company is more positive than its underlying reality, this gap poses a substantial risk. Eventually, the failure of a firm to live up to its billing will be revealed, and its reputation will decline until it more closely matches the reality.
To reiterate: “when the reputation of a company is more positive than its underlying reality, this gap poses a substantial risk.”
The difference between reputation and reality is illustrated by one of the greatest corporate own goals ever, Coca-Cola’s introduction of New Coke in the mid-1980s.
To summarize, Coke – which had been the top sugar-water-diabetes-beverage cola soda for decades – was feeling the pressure of Pepsi nipping at its heels. Through a brilliant marketing stunt (“Pepsi Challenge”) 1 and ad campaign (the youthful “Pepsi Generation” campaign headlined by Michael Jackson), Pepsi started taking serious market share from Coke through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
Enter New Coke in 1985. Aping the flavor of the sweeter Pepsi, Coca-Cola discontinued it’s old (since late 1880s) formula for this new beverage. It was a complete flop. The uproar was instant and brutal. Boycotts. Angry letters. Awful publicity. Coca-Cola had messed with a good thing and its customers were not happy.
Over the decades, many have labeled Coca-Cola’s gaffe a “branding” mistake. I’d like to shoehorn the New Coke debacle as a failure of minimizing the reputation-reality gap:
In 1985, a century after the product launched, the last word people associated with Coca-Cola was ‘new’. This was the company with more allusions to US heritage than any other. Fifty years previously, the Pulitzer Prize winning editor of a Kansas newspaper, William Allen White had referred to the soft drink as the ‘sublimated essence of all America stands for — a decent thing, honestly made, universally distributed, conscientiously improved with the years.’ Coca-Cola had even been involved with the history of US space travel, famously greeting Apollo astronauts with a sign reading ‘Welcome back to earth, home of Coca-Cola.’
Coca-Cola was an all-American creation and an incredible all-American export. Coca-Cola’s reputation was that of a trusted old beverage that you could turn to for all your nostalgic, patriotic and flavor needs. New Coke created a new reality – and therefore a gap – with this reputation by rejecting a century of acquired taste and good will.
Oops.
There was no Amazon back then, but a review would probably read as such.
Three months after the New Coke launch, the “old” Coke was brought back and dubbed “Classic Coke”. It was welcomed with renewed vigor and the company regained its footing. Due to the success that followed this incident, some conspiracy nuts believe Coca-Cola was playing 4-D Chess and planned the whole New Coke outrage-redemption play. 2
Either way, Coca-Cola’s reputation-reality gap was brought back into balance.
That brief business history takes us to Drakes’ incredible 2018 hit, “God’s Plan”.
I can’t stop listening to this song. Specifically, I can’t get enough of the line:
“Someone watching this sh*t close, yep, close /
I been me since Scarlett Road, ay, road, ay.”
Scarlett Road refers to a street Drake grew up in Toronto, a city that he has shouted out numerous times over the years.
Another prominent Scarlett Road reference is from the song, “You And The 6”: 3
“Do you remember back to Weston Road, Scarlett Road?”
To me, the man is Toronto’s (and Canada’s) greatest cultural export, a reality amplified by the fact that he is global ambassador for the super-popular local NBA team, Toronto Raptors.
It’s not just Drake, either.
Representing a city or geographical location is a rite of passage in Hip-Hop, often with the song title doing the heavy lifting:
- KRS-One, “South Bronx”
- Goodie Mob, “Dirty South”
- Tupac, “California Love”
- Tupac, “To Live & Die In LA”
- Jay-Z, “Empire State Of Mind”
- DJ Quik, “Born And Raised In Compton”
- Jermaine Dupri, “Welcome To Atlanta”
- Will Smith, “Miami”
- Clipse, “Virginia”
Why is one’s geographical connection so important in Hip-Hop? I wouldn’t be breaking new ground by arguing it has to do with reputation.
Hip-Hop’s early years served as the the voice for urban, inner-city youth with few outlets into mainstream America. Successful artists often lifted (and were lifted up) by their communities.
To this day, being true to one’s (neighbour) hood bolsters one’s reputation by attaching such “positive” qualities as loyalty, authenticity, realness and commitment. These qualities are particularly valued in urban “street life” and the derived authenticity helps to drive success in the music business.
For Drake, “being true” means being the same person he was as un-famous nobody Aubrey Graham growing up on Scarlett Road. That’s his reputation. But is it his reality?
The break-up of NWA demonstrates how a gap between reputation and reality can be attacked in the Hip-Hop world.
Literally straight out of Compton, few Hip-Hop groups are more tied to a locale than NWA. The group’s reputation – born from living in the mean streets of South Central LA – was synonymous with drugs, inner-city life, crime, poverty, police brutality, violence and survival.
After the meteoric success of the album “Straight Outta Compton”, Ice Cube unceremoniously left the group one year later in December 1989. Following a number of public spats with this former group, Ice Cube released arguably the greatest diss track ever in 1991, “No Vaseline”. 4
The song lands an incredible punch on Eazy-E with the line:
“I’ll never have dinner with the president /
I’ll never have dinner with the president /
I’ll never have dinner with the president.”
Per Genius.com, Ice Cube is referring to the fact that Eazy-E paid $2500 in 1991 to attend a Republican Senatorial Inner Circle Dinner hosted by George H.W. Bush. From a reputation standpoint, there is probaly no bigger gap with the reality of Compton life than a dinner with the caucasian leader of a US Republican government, whose War on Drugs was blamed for creating chaos in California’s inner cities and African-American communities. 5
Not surprisingly, Eazy-E’s response to this charge was – to paraphrase – “f*** off, don’t look at me”. Seriously, this text is incredible (my dumbstruck comments in red):
Hell no [I’m not a Republican], I don’t give a shit really. (I don’t think he’s a Republican) How could I do a song like ‘Fuck the Police’ and be a Republican? (This is a pretty good point…) I guess you can really (…this is also true) , but I don’t even vote. (Not surprising tbh) I just went cause those muthaf***ers sent me an invitation. (Social pressures are tough to combat) They pulled my name off the computer cause I give a lot of money to charities and stuff. (Applause-worthy but not very “street”) Soon as I got there CBS and other news stations were all there askin’ how you guys gonna let him get in there. It was a whole big mess, on every station. I just wanted to go, see what they was talking about, just to see. I get home, everybody was like “Oh so you’re a Republican, blah blah.” (There’s that reputation-reality gap…) Hell no, I ain’t no Republican. (…but good thing he clarified his position) They was talking about the f***in’ war and how this and how that, it was bulls***.”
Agreed, it was BS.
Now, I don’t question Drake’s love for Toronto (and as mentioned, I love this man’s music). But are the incessant shoutouts to the 6 part of a greater ploy to combat the risks of a widening reputation-reality gap?
One of the many amazing Drake memes over the years is that of Groupie Drake, which seemingly punches holes in his reputation as Mr. Toronto.
Groupie Drake seems to like athletes and stars from non-Toronto teams a little too much.
Recent rumors even have him tattooing the numbers for Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry on his arm, two players that definitely aren’t on the Toronto Raptors.
Are these images representative of a “New” Drake (vs. “Classic” Drake). Perhaps one that is less loyal to the 6?
Personally, I think Drake “has been him since Scarlett Road” but do understand why the internet mob gives him a hard time. 6
As Coca-Cola and Eazy-E will tell you, that reputation-reality gap is not to be toyed with.
Class dismissed.
Drake and some cultural figures – including a US President who would presumably have dinner with himself – being mindful about the reputation-reality gap. Drake Jesus Abraham Lincoln Jon Snow The Beatles Luke Skywalker“I BEEN ME SINCE ________________.”
