You might have heard this story: the hard-rocking “Hair Bear Bunch,” Van Halen, specified in its rider — a document listing performers’ requirements for a gig — that they wanted no brown M&M’s in their bowl of M&M’s.
What does this have to do with marketing leadership?
Apparently, this was not some crazy, petulant demand from spoiled rockstars, but as David Lee Roth explains in this YouTube video, it was actually a quick safety assessment. On earlier tours, inadequate compliance with the safety requirements outlined in their rider had placed Van Halen’s road crew in potentially life-threatening danger. The group used the brown M&M’s clause to determine if the venue was paying attention.
