A large portion of these companies chose niche products (luggage, mattresses, etc..), but tied themselves to a wider theme (travel, sleep, etc…). Organic social and content marketing were the most common “core” channels. Cost-effective, attention grabbing, visual, direct social proof – I’m not surprised that these channels were leaned on.
One of the easiest ways to hate something you love is to turn it into your job: taking the thing that keeps you alive spiritually and turning it into the thing that keeps you alive literally.
Many might think of exclusivity as the main product here, but the true product is the people. As a feature, exclusivity ensures a certain shared value system, attractiveness level, and often homogeneity of those people, and that’s what consumers are willing to pay for.
don’t compare yourself to people smarter than you are. there’s always someone smarter. they’re no geniuses. they don’t have intellectual synesthesia. they don’t have a vision.
The high cost paid by people of color from what we now call “the war on drugs,” may not have been an incidental byproduct but an unstated goal from the start.