They Take Out Their Phones - You Lost Your Audience, Just Like Madonna Did on Celebration Tour

It has become the universal sign of a disconnect: Those who should be paying attention to you sneak a peek at their phones. And, reports Sarah Vine at Daily Mail, that's what happened mid-show during Madonna's Celebration tour in London. She lost a part of her audience and never got it back. 

 

The speculation is that Madonna doesn't understand who her current audience is, so played it wrong. The only ones who could afford the pricey tickets are the financially well-off. They tend to be more or less buttoned-down (hey, they don't have to strive to seem cool or youthful) and wouldn't welcome raunchy. An example of that is her recounting that when just starting out in the streets of New York City it was "blow jobs for showers." Perhaps more to the point her street saga is not only well-known but irrelevant to where the world's mindset (e.g. Middle East could explode into a regional war). 

 

So, we ask for not only entertainers but also leaders, how do you prevent The Fade-Out. The answer is obvious: Change your branding with the times. 

 

In the new book "The Fall" Michael Wolff cites former star financial broadcaster Maria Bartiromo's inability to adjust from being capitalist cheerleader to a more complex analyst during The Great Recession. Her wattage went poof and she wound up at Fox. In Wolff's point of view, that's not the place to be.

 

Also there are the one-trick ponies. Take the hard-edged hard-driving CEO of alternate investment firm Apollo Marc Rowan. Recently he put the muscle on the University of Pennsylvania for not condemning adequately the Hamas attack on Israel. The pressure was through the threat to halt donations. The University didn't cave.

 

These are confusing times. For some of us Rowan came across as a one-dimensional bully type, not the thought leader image he seemed to have been cultivating on Yahoo Finance (in which Apollo has a major investment). Give us the more nuanced JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon. He sizes up the collective consciousness just right. 

 

Once the phones come out - literally or metaphorically - it's difficult to come back. In coaching I hammer the importance of rebranding with the times as well as with aging or a shift in mission. The Fade-Out is preventable. 

UPDATE:

University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill caved a little. As Insider reports, yesterday she conceded that the University could have been clearer that there was no antisemitism in the recent festival for Palestinian art. Rowan and his wife had made a $50 donation to the University. There can be many points of view about what could go down in history as "Rowan's Stand." Is higher education in American becoming controlled by Wall Street?

 In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com) 

 

 


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