Monday, March 10, 2008
The Four Stages of a Lifestyle Brand
We define a lifestyle brand as one that differentiates itself based on the collective values, ideas and beliefs of the people that buy it. This is in contrast to brands based on value, performance, or other price/feature-based differentiators. In other words, you buy a lifestyle brand because you feel like you belong to the same tribe. Value, performance, and other considerations matter, but they aren't dealbreakers or dealmakers.Good examples of lifestyle brands are things like fashion, sports, cars, and other categories where people have a deep emotional connection to the product. Most lifestyle brands are built on self-expression. In theory anything can be a lifestyle brand, but in practice it's difficult to build a lifestyle brand around a category that people not inclined to think of as a means of self-expression like paper towels, house paint, or ceiling fans.
In any case, lifestyle brands follow a four-stage evolution during their lifecycle that we've outlined below. Click the image to view it larger, or download a PDF here.
Stage 1: Core
At this stage, the brand is by the core, for the core. It's small, but growing. It's relatively easy to create and manage a brand at this stage because the competition is so unsophisticated.
Core: Small group of passionate consumers who evangelize
Mainstream: Unaware
Market size: Very Small
Marketing: Word of mouth, events, online
Examples: Skateboarding in 1992
Stage 2: The Next Big Thing
This is the most critical stage, where lifestyle brands ultimately live or die. At this point, the brand is as big as it can get within the core, and needs to crossover in order to continue growing.
Core: Nearly universally popular among core consumers. Community rallies behind the brand to help it grow.
Mainstream: Early adopters and influencers start to spread the word, but still relatively unknown.
Market size: Small-Medium
Marketing: Word of mouth, specialty media
Examples: Ultimate Fighting Championship
Stage 3: Crossover Success
This is the sweet spot for a lifestyle brand. It mostly retains the credibility it had during Stage 1 and 2 while broadening its market substantially. Some loss of credibility is inevitable, though.
Core: Growing skepticism. Has mostly moved on to a new, core brand (Stage 1) that feels more authentic to them.
Mainstream: Enthusiastically embraces the brand. Feels like they're part of something new and cool.
Market size: Large
Marketing: Mass
Examples: Kevin Smith movies
Stage 4: Sellout (Optional!)
Most, but not all, lifestyle brands eventually end up as Sellouts. They've gotten too big, made too many compromises, and eroded their brand too much. It doesn’t have to happen, though!
Core: The brand is completely discredited with the core. They wouldn't buy it if their lives depended on it.
Mainstream: All but the slowest laggards have moved on to the next crossover (Stage 3) brand.
Market size: Small
Marketing: Mass, if any
Examples: Bam Margera
Labels: branding
posted by Finn McKenty at 2:56 PM
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