Brands in the key of lifestyle

Originally publish on WARC - January 30, 2023

https://www.warc.com/content/article/warc-exclusive/brands-in-the-key-of-lifestyle-what-the-music-industry-can-teach-us-about-rebuilding-legacy-brands/149290 (Subscription)

Beatlemaniacs. Deadheads. Bruce Tramps.

In the world of music, there are fans. And then there are fans.

While there are certainly a great many fans of countless British Invasion acts, 70s jam bands and rock icons, only a select few inspired a level of fandom that demanded a unique label.

These labels were created to reflect the shared identity of the fans. They didn’t just enjoy the music or admire the musicians, they viewed the acts as a part of themselves, a reflection of themselves. In many respects, these musical acts were the first – of what we might today call – lifestyle brands.

In the last decade or so, more and more of these fan identities have popped up: Swifties, Little Monsters, Beliebers, XO Crew, Barbz, and, of course, Lizzbians.

What was once reserved for only the most passionate and dedicated of fanbases seems to have become a sort of marketing tool – a way to create devotion, rather than reward it.

A similar trend is occurring in the world of marketing. The notion of the lifestyle brand, which was once reserved for brands that were designed in such a way that they drew in fervent fans, has now become a marketing goal for brands of all stripes, but especially big, legacy brands.

These large brands see an opportunity to rethink their roll in the lives of their customers and imagine a world where they take their relationships with them to a deeper level.

Which begs the question: can a legacy brand become a lifestyle brand?

Defining our terms

There are numerous definitions of a lifestyle brand, but I think of a lifestyle brand as one that, through a deep understanding of the human beings it wants to connect with, creates an aspirational image of a lifestyle, a community and/or a version of self that those people desire.

Within that definition, there are two key components to the creation of any successful lifestyle brand: 1) badge value, and 2) user focus.

Step 1: Badge value

Becoming a badge brand is the ability to move from being part of someone’s lifestyle, to being a part of their identity. These are brands that people want to show off, want to talk about, want to identify as an owner of.

Think: Supreme, La Croix. Or, if it helps, the Grateful Dead patch on a jean jacket, or a prominently displayed vinyl copy of Harry’s House or Abbey Road. These are badges that people choose to display, both through purchase and experience.

A number of legacy brands live in this world too: Nike, Apple and Harley Davidson are massive brands that maintain strong badge value.

To fully define the lifestyle brand, we need to go a step further.

Step 2: User focus

In 2018, SAP, Siegel+Gale, and Shift Thinking published a joint study that concluded that the most successful brands focused on users, rather than buyers.

They paired similar brands to illustrate their point – Coca-Cola and Red Bull, Gap and Lululemon, and Marriott and Airbnb. Through their analysis, they were able to categorize the brands as ‘usage’ and ‘purchase’ brands.

This is a summary of their findings:

The study also found that people were willing to pay a 7% premium for usage brands, were 8% less likely to switch, and were more than two times as likely to spontaneously recommend the brand.

While having badge value and creating an aspirational image for people is hugely valuable, this focus on usage is what truly brings the idea of ‘lifestyle’ into focus. We’re moving beyond the traditional marketing concepts like paths to purchase or funnels, and into the world of experience.

These simple distinctions between purchase and usage are what give me hope for legacy brands with lifestyle ambitions, as they demonstrate how a lifestyle brand cannot simply be built, but re-built.

So, how can Tommy Hilfiger follow the path of Taylor Swift, or L’Oreal takes lessons from Lizzo?

I’d like to propose four key shifts that can help a brand move towards lifestyle.

1) Speak of customers as ‘users’ – not ‘consumers’

Ever heard of a Lady Gaga consumer? Me neither. Even if someone couldn’t be classified as a full-on Little Monster, they might still be a Lady Gaga listener, or – even better – a Lady Gaga fan.

While it may seem like semantics, the idea of thinking of the people who buy your products as users fundamentally shifts the viewpoint of the relationship.

We’ve now moved from focusing on whether someone buys the product, to what they do with it, how they use it, how they experience it. With that shift, it is nearly impossible to not think of that user as a person. Not a target, or a persona, or a segment, but a living breathing person with wants and needs that are in our power to address.

If we do right by that person, if we take the time to truly address those wants and needs, we may just be afforded the opportunity to convert them into a fan. If you want someone to know you, you need to know them. If you want them to care about you, you should first try caring about them. And if want them to love you, you’re going to have to love them back. And, in marketing, that begins with a simple shift from ‘consumers’ to ‘users.’

2) Give people something to believe in

Now that we’re thinking of people as people, the next step is to give them something to believe in.

In the words of Nike founder, Phil Knight:

It may be called a stance, a conviction, a belief, regardless, it’s a key component to turning people into users, and users into fans.

Nike believes “if you have a body, you’re an athlete.” Airbnb believes that “travel is better when you experience it as an insider.” And Neil Young? Well, he believes there are limits to what constitutes free speech.

Disagree with any (or all) of those statements? Good. That’s the point. And it’s what makes belief so irresistible to those who do agree. It forms a bond between brand and user, built on shared conviction. That’s a difficult bond to break.

3) Experience. Experience. Experience.

One of the most interesting findings from the SAP study concerned a brand’s approach to “moments of truth.” They found that while purchase brands fixate on the “moments of truth” that happen before the transaction, such as researching, and buying the product, usage brands focus on the moments of truth that happen at every touchpoint of the journey, whether in research, delivery, service, education, or sharing.

From the marketing sales funnels to the monthly (even daily) sales reporting, more and more categories are either rooted in, or obsessed with the purchase side of the equation. Paradoxically, products in the majority of these categories are actually purpose-built for usage moments. So, finding a way to build usage moments into the marketing and sales practices is key to unlocking the lifestyle potential of a brand.

A shift in measurement can grease these wheels. We don’t want to lose consideration and conversion, but we want to add things like NPS (Net Promoter Score) and CLV (customer lifetime value), as they continue to push us to think of our customers as users and force us to concern ourselves with their experience with our brand and products.

4) Rethink advertising, but don’t forget it

A newfound focus on users, conviction and experience is a tremendous start, but to truly succeed, we need to return to where we started: badge value.

What all the aforementioned musical acts have – and what any legacy brand aspiring to lifestyle status needs – is badge value. And that’s attained through the development of a strong and consistent brand that is present when and where it matters.

Does The Weeknd run TV spots? No, but he has created a brand that is not only unique and recognizable, but alluring and scalable. From big budget videos to intriguing social to eye-catching crossovers, he’s reimagined new and traditional channels to match his brand. And, in keeping with our new guidelines, he’s far less interested in things like consideration or conversion, and much more in tune with how the music/products/posts will be experienced by each user. Those people pay attention because of the value of the brand.

One step at a time

For many legacy brands, the delta between today’s brand realities and a Weeknd-level existence may seem daunting, but like any transformation, the journey happens one step at a time.

Rather than trying to master all other these at once, perhaps start with one. They’re intentionally ordered, but if one feels more natural than another, start there. There’s ample evidence that this type of re-build is realistic, and with the worlds of retail and commerce consistently shifting away from the traditional, now has never been a better time for brands to take a leap into lifestyle.