What Business Leaders Can Learn From Slayer

If you don’t know who or what Slayer is, I’ll give you a small introduction. Slayer is an American band that has single-handedly defined a new category in metal music: Thrash Metal. If you’re not familiar with Thrash Metal, you either love it or hate it. Haters think Thrash is loud, screaming, violent noise, but others, like me, know better. 

Back to Slayer.

Slayer have been banging their heads since 1981, releasing 13 albums, playing a little less than 10,000 concerts worldwide, winning 2 out of 5 Grammy nominations, and making millions of dollars. The big question is: how can these guys be consistently successful for more than 30 years? Were they innovative? Did they adapt to social changes? Were they sensitive to trends, or operating lean and agile?

No. Slayer, in the purest form, are still the same Slayer as in 1981. Nothing in their concept or ideas about their music, band and brand have changed. What is their big secret? How did they do this? And what can business and brands learn from this unique strategy?

I think Slayer are one of the most successful music brands ever. Not as wealthy as, but more effective than, Michael Jackson, more loved than the Beatles, more outspoken than Radiohead, and more consistent than all poser Gagas and ’donnas.

In my work as Creative Director at Edenspiekermann I meet a great number of business leaders. And if we talk about their brands and UX strategy, I sometimes feel the urge to wake them up with some Slayer “War Ensemble” tunes. They forget that building a brand is not about ego or politics, but about being true to beliefs, brand and audience. And when the last grunt and power cords die out, I tell them 4 things.

The four important lessons to be learned from Slayer:

1 - Slayer are not selling music

2 - Slayer stick to their beliefs

3 - Slayer understand life cycles

4 - Slayer are consistently feeding an expectation

1. Slayer are not selling music
Slayer sell aggressive provocation. And this has proven to be a dark and successful seed in the fertile grounds of the US, a land filled with religious fanatics and conservatives. Slayer provided the hammer which helped generations to free themselves from the dogmas of parents, churches, social structures and schools. The product-exceeding promise of provocation is a more powerful concept than the music alone. It transcends age, gender and anything else. It’s an easy to understand and unifying idea and makes you part of something bigger: a community of provocateurs.

2. Slayer stick to their beliefs
In the last 30+ years Slayer have not changed the concept of being Slayer. There was no need to innovate. Being Slayer was enough to activate any group of angry young people all over the globe. They have enough tools to do so. Slayer speaks the universal language of provocation at its best. Not only in music and lyrics but also in symbols. They know very specifically what will shock the nation. From Nazi symbolism, gore and violence to blood soaked spiked bibles and album titles like “God Hates Us All”. Why? Because it is ammunition for their audience to scare their peers: brand utilization at its best.

3. Slayer understand life cycles and loyalty
As an iconic and category defining band, Slayer know how to keep their long-lasting, loyal core audience happy and still know how to penetrate a new young metal audience. They know everything about what binds these people and that’s not a list of functional benefits. They know their audience: what they expect and what they want, every time, young or old.

4. Slayer consistently feed a unique expectation
Music purists will always debate whether Slayer helped metal move forward. But for me, that’s not the case. They have always known how to shock the world. They have always been the aggressor and never popularized their music or attitude because of succes. All their work has been on the same quality level. Albums, shows, visual language, merchandise, PR or promotion. It’s this pre programmed expectation with a dash of surprise that make it a successful b(r)and. We assure you: Slayer will be Slayer.

Business leaders have a hard time managing and directing those four steps, and Slayer teach us that long term brand value development and reinvention is about being loyal to your essence and beliefs, and that trends and temporary downfalls should not jeopardize that. It’s a process of revitalization, consistency and adaptation without switching strategies all the time, redefining brand values now and then, or launching another one of your 150 innovative products or boring features your audience doesn’t care about. Define the product exceeding promise, consistently feed a unique expectation, know everything about your audience, stick to the path and turn your audience into loyal customers.

666 forever. 

Want to learn more? Contact our Creative Director Jonne Kuyt.