At Tribal we’ve been talking a lot about our mission and vision this year. We’ve landed on a certain way that we believe brands should behave and, for me, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis fit right into this mold. Not only are they bucking the trend of what it means to be a hip hop act – eschewing commercialism and homophobia – but they are continuously finding new ways to build a story, not just tell one.
This was abundantly clear last night at The Grammys and, while many brands were busy mistaking participation for relevance, they build a new chapter for the story that is the song, Same Love. Rather than simply perform the song, they lived the song. They married, as part of the performance, 33 same sex and traditional couples from all number of ethnic backgrounds. Yes it was a bit of a stunt but having listened to and followed the song for many months, I found it incredibly moving.
Say what you like about Macklemore, and people are, but he really is a modern brand.
