Hail, Hail, Margaret Young!

Who is Margaret Young? Margaret Young is the sister of guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young from the band AC/DC, and as far as I understand it, she suggested the name AC/DC, and she told Angus Young that he should wear his schoolboy uniform in the band. So, essentially, from a marketing perspective, Margaret Young is one of the great marketing geniuses of all time. (No exaggeration!)

AC/DC would be popular, sure, without the name AC/DC, and without the schoolboy outfit shtick, but would they be as popular? That’s hard to say. But what is not hard to say is that AC/DC is one of the most recognizable brands in the entire world for any product, and she came up with it. Also, that schoolboy look has been a huge cultural symbol, and she thought of that, too. In short, I would hire her in a second to help me with the image of my (or any) band (if I had one now), and it’s amazing she didn’t start her own agency doing just that. Also, if I had owned an ad agency in Australia back in the day, working on branding and such, I would have called her up and said: “Hey, we’re starting up a new account for such-and-such a product: what would you do with it?”

I don’t know anything about her except for these two things, and that she’s their sister, but as far as I know she didn’t do anything else like that again. But be that as it may, it does nothing to detract from her genius: their music is great, but a lot of what we think about their band comes from Margaret Young. And we should all remember those strokes of brilliance came from her.

Some people might say that what she did was not such a big deal, but I would say they’re crazy or ignorant or stupid. What if Coca-Cola was called “Brown Sugar Water”: Would people still drink it? What if Metallica was called “The Axe Blades”: Would they have such a big name? Probably not. What for some people seems like a momentary pointing out of a trivial thing can make the difference between a huge hit and a giant fizzle-out. Now, I’m not suggesting what she did was a trivial momentary thing (although she may modestly claim it was); but some other people might. But for advertising and marketing people, we know the value of a great brand, and how hard it can be to come up with it. The point is this: It doesn’t matter how long it took to come up with it, it only matters how good it is, and how valuable it becomes. And what she did was create the Coca-Cola, the Ferrari, the McDonald’s of hard rock: the most recognizable brand there is. Simply amazing! Hail, hail, Margaret Young: a rock star of branding and marketing if ever there was one!

Some ad people say great advertising will kill a crappy product faster than anything, and it’s true. At the same time, great advertising, branding and marketing will make a great product catch on in no time! And that’s what Margaret did for AC/DC: She gave them a great brand and a great shtick. Without it, they may have succeeded; but with it, at least that part would have been great regardless. They had to do the music, but she gave them a brand for all time; and that’s huge!

(If you’re still feeling incredulous, think of it like this: The person who thought up the idea: “Hey, why don’t we ride a skateboard, but on the snow?” may not be Shawn White, but without that person, Shawn White would not be able to do what he does. And when asked about his stage persona, Angus Young has time and time again credited his outfit of the schoolboy uniform suit for making him into the great stage performer he is, and that otherwise he’s really a shy person; and his sister told him to wear it. Get it now? An inspired idea can create entire new worlds of reality and activity! And that’s what brilliant marketing is all about. And what Margaret Young did for her brothers’ band is about as great or inspired as marketing gets!)

BTW: The title of this post is obviously an homage to the man who made AC/DC’s music possible: Chuck Berry, and his song: “Hail, Hail Rock N’ Roll”.

(Once in a while I have a serious piece. This one of them.)