Putting An End To Show And Tell Marketing

We all might have fond memories of being little kids and going to school on show and tell day (if you didn’t grow up with that tradition, here’s what it is). We’d pick our favorite toy or stuffed animal, bring it to our classroom, stand up in front of everyone and describe every last detail of that special thing we brought in to share:

“This is my stuffed rabbit. It’s white and has some brown stripes. It’s soft and fuzzy. It’s small. I got it when I was two years old from my grandpa, and I sleep with it every night.”

Now, except for that last piece of sentimental information, every other descriptor we can see plainly for ourselves. We’re not going to fault this fictional child I just made up for over-explaining the obvious, that’s what kids do and it’s how they learn. 

But why do we as adults – and especially why do we as marketers – feel the need to show and tell so painfully hard? I find this especially prevalent in the space of multicultural and ethnographic marketing, when brands are so excited to be inclusive and get an underserved audience on board that they then actually tarnish the product they have by overselling its “diverse” qualities. 

To dramatize this a bit, it can sometimes feels like:

Brand: “Black people, you will LOVE this because it’s Blackity Black Black Black and we get you because we put up a Black square on Instagram two years ago. We know all of y'all like the same stuff, and this is just like that other thing you already like, but this time we did it 6 years later. So buy it? Did we mention it's for you, Black person?”

Marketing is storytelling after-all, so we have to be able to build a successful narrative, but the flaw comes into play when the story (the tell) comes before the action (the show), or sometimes stands completely without it.

You know what would be more powerful? Showing actual Black people engaging with your brand and product in a way that is culturally nuanced to what motivates and inspires them. Spotlighting real conversations being had about your brand and product, and how it uniquely fits the specific needs and desires of the audience. Showing the (hopefully) Black person behind the scenes who championed the brand or product getting made, and why they believe it’s important. Or, and this is a big one, actually creating systemic and industry wide change with brand action and letting the work speak for itself, leading to long-term brand love from the audience in question.

It’s like one of my favorite girl group's of the 90's once said: "You see now actions speak louder than words. So don't just say things that I've already heard" - Brownstone

So as marketers, we should strive to show not tell, or at least show then tell. Either way, in the current state of society and to actually ignite meaningful conversation – true action has to come first.

An example where this went really, really well is the recent “Faces of Travel” campaign from Delta Airlines and Adobe. For as long as travel has been a leisure activity, Black and brown people have been erased from that narrative. You didn’t see Black and brown faces in travel ads, as travel influencers on social media, or in stock photography of travelers. There’s a whole layer involved when traveling as a non-white (and/or non cis, straight person) that isn’t thought of or acknowledged in mainstream media and with mainstream brands. 

Which is why when two massive brands like Delta Airlines and Adobe came together, saw a clear need that the audience has been vocal about for years, and thoughtfully and selflessly filled it – it resonated! And they did it in a way where they of course talked about the work, but the actions were so much louder than the words, and the words were sitting on a strong foundation of authentic output so they weren’t seen as shallow or self-serving. This was really a brand move at the end of the day. There wasn’t a call to buy Delta tickets or any hidden messaging around a new service – it was a smart way to stay top of mind for $1.6 trillion buying power that the Black community in the U.S. holds as airline travel picks up again. 

Delta has already notably been very active in the space of intentionally speaking to multicultural audiences, so this is not only an example of a spot-on show not tell campaign execution, but also a reminder that to retain any audience you must be consistent with your messaging and your stance. 

The travel industry must be in their inclusive marketing bag these days, because I was also blown away by show not tell nature within the recent move from Virgin Atlantic where they released new trans and non-binary inclusive policies for staff and passengers. ICYMI: staff can now choose any uniform they wish from the catalog of options, and can opt-in to pronoun badges (passengers can now request the latter at check-in). This is systemic action. Policy changes are no small feat within a large company like Virgin, so it’s almost hard to call this a marketing campaign as it’s much, much bigger than that. 

Virgin clearly understands that, with each new generation, we’re seeing more and more LGBTQIA people – and even for those that don’t identify in those ways – the allyship among newer generations is fierce and unforgiving. 

More than 1 in 5, or 21%, of Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ, which is almost double the amount of millennials, who are 26 to 41, at 10.5%, and about five times the amount of Gen X, who are 42 to 57, at 4.2%. Less than 3% of baby boomers, who are 58 to 76, identify as LGBTQ, compared to just 0.8% of traditionalists, who are 77 or older [source: Gallup]. 

This is proving that, with each new generation, sexual and gender identity are expanding and becoming more fluid, so to stay current as a brand – which all brands effectively want to do – means to speak directly to queer audiences and show that you understand their needs. 

But, not all examples are good examples. There was a campaign recently where the product (the show) might’ve been rock solid, but the messaging (the tell) came in hot and hit the wrong notes not only for the target audience, but also for any other audience who would’ve actually benefited from the experience. 

Y'all know I'm a very candid person, but in this case, I'm choosing to refrain from naming the brand in this instance because the learning can be obtained without doing so. But, its fatal flaw was shoving diversity and inclusivity down everyone’s throats with over the top messaging, when really, they should’ve allowed that narrative to play out naturally and let others almost tell that part of the story for them. If your product has all of the right ingredients, and will inarguably resonate with your target audience and beyond, sometimes it’s stronger to lead with other elements beyond its diverse qualities so that it doesn’t turn people away or make them feel like they “should” buy this thing. 

When you lead with telling people about a thing, it’s a “should” feeling most of the time. “You should buy this because X, Y, Z.” A feeling of “should” is boring and not sexy and can be a major deterrent. We need to be striving for a feeling of “want” or desire. A consumer that wants something is a much stronger and more actionable feeling, and is almost always elicited from a show forward approach vs. a tell forward one.