Soul Train's Impact and Decision Making Marketing

Question: What helped Soul Train become successful the way it did?  Answer: The people that were watching it. But how? 


Let's think about this for second. Yeah I know I said it a few times before, but Soul Train was one of the longest shows in American history. The reason behind that is because the producers and marketing team knew what the people that were most interested in the show wanted. And as time goes by, so do people, so they had to implement different strategies by studying what young African-Americans were most interested in. The 70's music was becoming a thing in the past. In the 80's there was a new genre of music that came out that was known as "Rap" music. Some people, at the time, did not know if "Rap" music was really music at all. The show had to continue, but had to change in some perspective, and still remain "original".


Soul Train marketing team had to do major research from what's "cool"" in the fashion seen of adolescents to the different styles and dance moves that were done on the streets. Also, they had to know who are the "It" artists that the streets were craving. Most importantly, they had to understand what "Rap" music was all about.


Even though Rap/Hip Hop music was, at that time (and still to this day), the music that kids were listening to, R&B still remained a genre that will never play out (unlike Disco). Rap music became a big influence on style and sooner than later, the style portrayed on Rap artists was reflected on R&B artists. Don Cornelius felt that the show would undergo a whole other route. Which eventually, it did.