Bigger Than This

by Fabian Geyrhalter

  Fast-forward to today and a whole slew of brands are succeeding in building successful marketing campaigns around transparency: “Nothing to hide” is the motto by which T-Mobile got its second life. Being the “Un-carrier” is the way the company dubbed it. Through the help of a new, (radically) outspoken CEO, John Legere, the wireless plan company (selling highly commoditized products) started aggressively trash-talking and calling out its rivals (namely AT&T and Verizon) on their pricing tricks, a rather big no-no in the corporate league. Legere quickly learned that “customers hated being locked into contracts, hated being gouged by extra fees for things they didn’t understand or couldn’t fully control, such as data and roaming,” as he put it in Harvard Business Review.xxii

  “I SAW

  MORE

  HONESTY

  ON A

  MATCH.COM

  AD

  THAN ON

  AT&T’S

  COVERAGE

  MAPS.”

  | CEO John Legere, T-Mobile

  concluded Legere, and so the “Un-carrier” was born. T-Mobile gained market share by being fully transparent and running what one may call a “no BS” organization that an audience in pain ached for badly. Now, T-Mobile is not a startup company in any way, shape or form, but thanks to Legere’s flipping the company on its head and right back on its feet to aim for the pole position, I see genuine startup spirit within the T-Mobile brand.

  A true startup brand that successfully embodies transparency is Glossier. The website creates beauty products by asking its tribe what ingredients they would like to see in any specific product, hence fostering a conversation that is rooted in transparency and care. “[Glossier] asks, it listens and it churns out a new product every six to eight weeks” CEO and former fashion blogger Emily Weiss told Entrepreneur.xxiii Glossier also does not stay away from featuring competitors’ brands on their social media channels: “Where most beauty companies have tried to ignore the fact that women are in an open relationship with beauty brands, we have embraced that,” Weiss told Fast Company.xxiv

  The

  honesty

  seems to be

  paying off

  big-time:

  “In less than three years, and with just 24 products that range in price from $12 to $35, the startup has become one of the industry’s biggest disruptors,” Entrepreneur wrote. “Revenues are up 600 percent year over year and the brand has tripled its active customer count over the past 12 months.”xxv It takes a commitment to honesty – not only toward your customer but also toward yourself as a founder, CEO or CMO – to truthfully analyze your audience in order to define important key brand traits, as Weiss did in actively going after consumer input, and to have the determination to act upon it.

  If you are in a space known for opacity and complexity, transparency can go quite a long way with your audience. Ritual, a Los Angeles–based seller of vitamins, insists on a clean supply chain and keeps itself honest by listing details on the origins and manufacturers of its ingredients and clinical trials on its website. As a brand that sells vegan, dye-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, non-GMO and dairy-free products, Ritual applied the rule of transparency because it knows its niche customers care deeply about that information and the notion that the company’s values align with what they themselves stand for.

  For brands founded by a desire for honesty, going full-on transparent is a path to success that takes a fair share of moxie. If you commit to leading with honesty, understand that there is no way back. If you have committed to sharing your financial statements publicly on your website in 2018, for example, going quiet in 2019 will backfire.

  CASE STUDY

  EVERLANE

  COMMODITY PRODUCT: Apparel

  Everlane sells clothes online. The twist? Shoppers get to understand everything about the piece of fashion they are interested in purchasing. I am not simply talking about size, fabric and designer bios. Everlane’s CEO and founder Michael Preysman’s philosophy is deeply rooted in telling all: “We stand behind factory transparency and back up the story of each piece of clothing with real data,” he told Adweek.xxvi “People are more aware how clothes are made today, because of social media, and, as a result, they know what the dark side is. The more information we can provide about our process, the more clear it is to the consumer why the decision they’re making is better for the planet.”

  The brand not only lists all materials and labor involved – from photos of the factory floors to images of the workers making each garment – but also shares costs involved in every aspect along the way, which make it a true poster child of a commodity brand that is leading through complete transparency. The startup brand even developed its own framework for auditing and rating its factories.xxvii Pushing transparency into “radical transparency” last fall, the online retailer shaved $25 off its best-selling cashmere crew, citing lower production costs.xxviii This is one sure way to create consumer love.

  THE

  TRANSPARENCY

  COMMANDMENTS

  Reveal it all. It’s the only way to showcase transparency in a flash. Customers will instantaneously trust your brand and its products over your competitors’.

  Commit fully. If you go down that brand trait road, know that it’s a one-way path without an option to make any U-turns.

  Know that your product and audience ache for transparency if your specific vertical has been known not to be truthful. (For instance, if you work in the fashion industry, which has had scandals about the use of sweatshops in its supply chain, mention where garments are being made. If you run a financial company, mention how it uses funds. If you sell a food product, answer consumers’ questions about what ingredients are in it.)

  Create a strategic plan on how far you will take the idea of transparency and where your brand will draw the line. Measure it against projected ROI, and promote only the most important areas of transparency while the others on your green-lighted list become brand surprises for continued storytelling and tribe delight.

  | 7 |

  SOLIDARITY

  When solidarity is

  bigger than the product

  Popcorn Palace sells its popcorn mainly to fundraisers who keep an astonishing 50% of its sales. Competitors let their own fundraisers keep only 30% to 40% of their sales. So why does Popcorn Palace pay its own so much more? It has made fundraisers its primary distribution channel and its main cause, upping the amount it lets customers keep while instantly, and logically, turning into a fundraising darling. It took Popcorn Palace a while to craft this winning strategy, but the idea of aligning a commodity brand empathetically with someone else’s dream is a move many startups are discovering.

  It takes the unique ability to show deep empathy for a very specific, often niche audience and to align your offering, your story and your belief (your messaging) around your followers’ point of view.

  This is about them,

  not only for them.

  Your brand

  becomes

  the enabler

  of their goals.

  Ride-sharing startup Careem is winning the app rivalry over Uber in the Middle East, and much of it can be attributed to solidarity. “In September 2016, Careem offered sheep [yes, you read that correctly], sacrificed according to Muslim law, to customers in Saudi Arabia. It was a move designed to simplify a tradition around the Eid al-Adha holiday that requires people to visit a local farm to buy a sheep or goat, get it home somehow, sacrifice it and distribute it to friends, family and the needy,” wrote Parmy Olson for Forbes.xxix “Careem made sure the meat was divided according to custom: a box for you, one for family and friends, and one for charity. After some customers said they wanted live sheep so their kids could play with it beforehand, Careem mobilized a fleet of pickup trucks for the job.”

  Can’t relate to goat sacrifices? That is exactly the point. Entrepreneurs will never be able to launch a meaningful brand without showing empathy for their audience, but with solidarity, they are
going beyond and entering mutuality, and that is exactly what Careem’s team nailed with its gestures. You may call the goat story a “campaign,” but campaigns can’t touch people’s hearts long term. Only deep and honest empathy will. As legendary actor Alan Alda recently told Entrepreneur magazine, “I thought of selling as manipulating people, because that’s how I had been sold, and I really resented that. But I eventually figured out that focusing on the other person’s needs and not my own was the most effective way to make a sale.”xxx

  For Careem, that seems to be the heartbeat of the brand, a true differentiator from competitor Uber, a brand that recently became known for showing less than empathetic behavior toward its drivers and employees.

  Dating apps are a low-hanging-fruit example of solidarity-driven brands, yet they draw a great overarching picture of the concept at the heart of solidarity branding. They carve out their audience based on niche solidarity rather than innovation. Examples range from Salad Match (you got it, a shared passion for salads) to High There, which is coupling singles based on their passion to get high as a kite. Indeed, the sky is the limit, but that focus is what makes brands that home in on their micro-tribe so successful.

  CASE STUDY

  PLANET FITNESS

  COMMODITY PRODUCT:

  Fitness Centers

  “We don’t judge” is the motto of this Hampton, New Hampshire–based gym franchise, which offers nothing that any other off-the-mill large and affordable gym for the masses isn’t also offering – with the exception of one thing: solidarity.

  “Be overweight, we won’t judge. Run slow, that’s OK. Swing by only once a month, that’s OK. Never been on a treadmill? We show you you’re not the only one.” This Twitter post (06/12/17) signified the brand’s clear stance when it comes to not fitting in with the rest of the gym vertical: “Why candy at the front desk? Because nothing brings people together like chocolate.” There. This creates empathetic brand love based on solidarity. It’s a tremendously smart brand move, and more so, this ideology as a brand foundation has gained more than six million members who make the pilgrimage (or swing by occasionally) to Planet Fitness’ 1,300-plus franchise locations, or may I say, “Judgment Free Zones”?

  The commitment to solidarity through its brand motto has proved not only to be highly successful but also expandable. A partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America entitled “the Judgment Free Generation” is “a pro-kindness, anti-bullying movement,” which builds on the gym’s one and only truly ownable brand differentiator, and that is all it will ever need. Solidarity branding is not restricted to understanding overlooked audiences, it can also be used to enable them to engage with your brand in a stronger way that is trust-based. The ‘Pay What You Want’ strategy is a great example of not only sharing a belief (Page 62), but also of showing solidarity. May that be an artist (Radiohead, most famously) offering their work for a price set by each individual, or restaurants (SAME Café and Everytable being the poster childs) allowing patrons to pay what they can, and, more importantly in this context, to pay what they want to pay. It’s noble, yes, but further it can be used to build a truly profitable brand; one that will honestly and truthfully connect with its customers from the get-go – a brand built on mutual trust. If you are launching a social enterprise (or feel highly socially responsible), and you have the guts, I believe there is great glory to be had.

  THE SOLIDARITY

  COMMANDMENTS

  Study your potential target audiences ahead of your brand launch, and then find and subsequently support wholeheartedly a subgroup’s feelings and actions. Will it restrict you? Absolutely. Will it make you the niche leader? If you play it correctly, it absolutely will, and that’s often more lucrative and satisfying than it is restrictive.

  Exemplify the values of your tribe in everything you do and everything you say.

  Be willing to sacrifice profits initially. It is, after all, what many startups do when they build up a massive tribe in lieu of cash. Lead with solidarity, gain fans and financial returns will follow; it’s almost guaranteed.

  | 8 |

  INDIVIDUALITY

  When customization is

  bigger than the product

  Large consumer brands have understood the power of customization for a while and mastered it thanks to algorithms and automation, offering everything from customized Absolut Vodka bottles and Coke cans all the way to seven million one-of-a-kind Nutella jars that were distributed across Italy in February 2017. Consumers gravitate toward unique designs, especially the ones that make the brand experience personal for them. In reality, what brands are selling in these cases are one-of-a-kind commodities. It sounds like an oxymoron, but this is part of a trend called mass customization. Today, personalization is easier than ever before and has a powerful impact when executed in a sea of sameness and catered very specifically to a hungry audience.

  Limited edition products have long been popular, but in the age of social media, they have significantly more impact. Take Budsies, a Florida company that creates one-of-a-kind plush toys based on a customer’s artwork or photos. Consumers send their drawing or picture, and Budsies creates a custom toy based on it. Talk about a unique experience and a lasting bond! Embracing a similar business model, Chicago-based Bucketfeet creates highly-limited-edition sneakers based on artists’ submissions, allowing anyone to show their unique individuality one step at a time. Swedish car-maker Volvo sold all 1,927 of its First Edition XC90 modelsxxxi, individually numbered and available for sale only via digital commerce, within 47 hours in 2014. Volvo’s minisite stated, “Only 1,927 all-new XC90 First Edition cars will exist in the world, and each one will be individually numbered. More than a number, it’s your story. A moment in time marked on each First Edition. Made for you.” The limited production run number represents the year the Swedish brand was launched, with each model fitted with uniquely numbered tread plates and a distinctive rear-mounted badge, with customers able to select their XC90 First Edition numbers. Number 1 was allocated to Carl XVI Gustav, the King of Sweden, with number 10 going to Zlatan Ibrahimović, [the] Swedish professional footballer.xxxii After that, you were able to get on the waiting list for your production model.

  As Volvo’s marketing team understands, limited, customized and/or personalized sells. When a product is scarce or unusual, buyers crave it in ways hard to inspire through traditional marketing campaigns.

  A LIMITED SPLASH

  – with expansive waves.

  A UNIQUE ITEM

  – for millions of recipients.

  A PERSONALIZED STORY

  – you can not stop spreading.

  Some of you might have seen the Swiss brand FREITAG in museum and design shops over the past decade as its one-of-a-kind messenger bags, made from recycled truck tarpaulins and used car seat belts, took design connoisseurs and do-gooders alike by storm. Today, Los Angeles–based startup Rareform is creating similar buzz (you might have seen it on Shark Tank) by using a similar idea, crafting one-of-a-kind bags and backpacks but from repurposed billboard vinyl instead of truck tarps. Rareform’s story was inspired by “seeing old billboard vinyl being used as roofing during a trip through South America,” according to its website and apparently not triggered by FREITAG’s tarp success. It’s surely a swift brand move: upcycle and sell through a uniqueness factor that caters to individual tastes and creates pride of owning a one-of-a-kind product.

  In a smart cross-marketing move, Rareform also partners with artists to create new tribes based on their unique b(r)ands. One such partnership was with artists Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. Using banners from their concert tours, which would usually go into the landfill, Rareform created unique bags and backpacks for fans who ache to own a unique piece of merchandise. These were smart steps in branding. Whether it be a recycled or an upcycled brand idea, the unique story and customized products will keep winning our attention through the individuality brand factor.

  Color gemstone jewelry brand Kendra Scott
launched her startup in 2002 and grew it into a brand valued at $1 billion. Her secret, too, lies in personalization. Shoppers make their selections, and within minutes the affordably priced pieces of jewelry are theirs to take. Who would have foreseen a $1 billion gemstone startup popping up in today’s age of innovation and disruption?

  CASE STUDY

  FANATICS

  COMMODITY PRODUCT:

  Fan T-Shirts

  One brand that uses individuality for its brand home run is Fanatics, whose name is very likely to give half the case study away all by itself. The Jacksonville, Florida–based instant licensed merchandise maker has attracted raving fans through branding that celebrates their individuality. Within 15 minutes, Fanatics can slap the thrill of victory on a T-shirt.xxxiii

  Fanatics creates T-shirts and other merchandise the moment a sports game ends. Employees on Fanatics’ “Ferrari Team” imprint slogans such as “Chicago Is Dancin’: The Road to the Final Four” and sell them to exhilarated fans at that very magical moment when their emotions – and their connection to their team and its surrounding tribe of fans – are at an all-time high.

  Fanatics connects in the most personalized manner with fans when it matters the most: right before a game or right after a game. Those are the moments when fans’ adrenaline is pumping and they want to wear their association with a specific team on their sleeves. Fanatics has licensing partnerships with the NCAA to create authentic brand shirts, authenticity that matters to many real fans. Being able to purchase a T-shirt that captures a big moment in time and literally spells out the way you feel while connecting it to the very team you root for wins a special brand trophy in the personalization game in my book.