How to Build Brand Energy

One thing is certain: the authenticity aesthetic served as a cohesive for all of these developments. It tied the spectrum of consumable items, spaces, and identities into a single unified visual experience.

This is a good time to discuss the demand for authenticity and where it comes from. As I hinted at previously, there’s a personal dimension to a... See more

What interested me was the way that different subcultures and brands were feeding off one another. Lifestyle brands and DTC needed to draw on these subcultural elements—they needed to be the products people buy in order to participate. And in the other direction, product imagery was beginning to play an important role in subcultural formation. In m

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In 2024, it’s easy to forget that iconic brands—those that win by riding cultural waves and becoming deeply associated with new cultural aspirations—must look to cultural idea markets first. A cultural idea market comes from the collective consciousness; it’s an aspiration or belief that a culture can unite around and become excited about.

The best... See more

As audiences coalesce around micro-communities as a refuge from an ongoing barrage of content and platforms, how brands connect with them matters. Offerings like Glossier’s Slack group, Vogue Club, and A24 All Access reveal a trend of brands rethinking their audience loyalty strategies. Providing space for fans to interact with your brand (and each... See more