The company you keep

I’m not a GQ man — a quick look at my wardrobe is enough to tell you that — but I am a GQ reader, and have been for years. The New Yorker notwithstanding, a great magazine is first and foremost a great visual experience. Thus, it was particularly jarring when, slowly flipping through the latest issue of GQ, I stumbled upon a two-page ad for Skoal, nestled among fashion spreads featuring $8,000 suits and $700 suede caps.

Now, I won’t judge your bad habits if you don’t judge mine, and I understand the elitist overtones of what I’m saying. If it was tobacco I was worried about, I could just as easily lampoon the magazine for carrying an American Spirits cigarette ad in the same issue. (That’s not great either, gang.)

But there is something about the Skoal ad that just doesn’t fit, that completely removed me from the experience that I savor in losing myself in a great magazine, which is an increasingly rare pleasure. Whether you are a magazine, or a restaurant, or a clothing boutique, your brand is first and foremost the experience you offer, and anything that impacts that experience impacts your brand.

Now maybe I’m no longer the magazine’s target audience. I’m a fair bit older than when I first became a reader, and I’ve made peace with the fact that I have neither the wallet nor the inclination to own a handmade Italian suit or a vintage Rolex. But the magazine is still aspirational for me nonetheless, and Skoal is not an aspirational product.

Yes, I am making a value judgment, and a harsh one. But your audience, your customers, they make those judgments all the time. And if your values don’t overlap with theirs, they won’t stick around for long.