Others minimise their carbon footprint or buy only from local sources. Warby Parker, a spectacles-maker, gives products away to poor people. To demonstrate theirs, many challenger firms, like Equal Parts, donate a percentage of revenue to good causes. It will, naturally, give 1% of revenues to local community organisations.Ĭonsumers increasingly care about such “brand purpose”. Its first, Equal Parts, was launched in August and sells cooking implements “to help people find a sense of comfort and intuition in the kitchen”. Pattern Brands, as Gin Lane has rebranded itself, creates its own labels. Startups see their services as so crucial that they are happy to part with equity in exchange. Osborne, Red Antler’s boss, says he accepts perhaps four out of a potential 150 clients every month. Mr Sperduti says he gets 100 pitches a month, of which his firm chooses maybe two. Across the East River in Brooklyn, Red Antler has dozens of startup clients including Casper, a mattress firm, Allbirds, which makes popular (if ungainly) trainers, and Brandless, an online corner shop whose brand is apparently all to do with not being a brand. In Chinatown, a short walk from Mythology’s offices, an agency called Gin Lane worked with Sweetgreen, a trendy salad chain, and Everlane, a clothing-maker that promises “radical transparency”, as well as with Harry’s. Manufacturing authenticity for upstart brands has become a thriving cottage industry in New York. Harry’s first ad revolved around him and his partner. Perhaps Mythology’s most important insight was that “for people to believe in Harry’s, they have to believe in us, personally, as founders,” says Mr Raider. It sells simplicity (subscribe online and get blades delivered) and good vibes (the company donates 1% of revenue to men’s mental-health charities). As a result, Harry’s doesn’t just sell razors. It gave them the name, the logo, the original packaging and the voice, says Anthony Sperduti, Mythology’s boss, adding that “obviously, this is collaborative”. ![]() Messrs Raider and Katz-Mayfield approached Mythology, a brand agency in NoHo, a hip district of Manhattan, for help with crafting their narrative. But so are the incumbents’ structural advantages. The upstarts’ rapid conquest of market share is real. Yet even though launching a new brand has never been easier, building a big global one may, in fact, be getting harder. Corporate owners of household names from Adidas to Zara are understandably worried. ![]() And spinning a yarn is considerably simpler than dreaming up an innovative product. What differs is the story told about them. Though not quite identical, many rival products today look pretty similar. Brands used to signify provenance and consistent quality, helping businesses build trust-and charge a premium for trustworthiness while encouraging repeat custom. The challengers’ success is in large part the result of successful branding. According to the Boston Consulting Group and IRI, a research firm, between 20 extra-small, small and retailers’ private-label brands picked up some $20bn of sales from big rivals. An average of 19,000 new non-food products entered the American market annually in the ten years to 2015, up from 11,000 a year in the previous decade and 3,500 in the one before that. ![]() Rodan + Fields, relaunched from obscurity in 2008, has been America’s top-selling skincare brand for three years running. Halo Top, a low-calorie ice cream created in 2012, was the top selling ice-cream pint in America five years later, ahead of Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s. Chobani, a 15-year-old company, sells one in five American yoghurts. From industry to industry insurgent labels seem to be eating incumbents’ lunch. Last year Procter & Gamble ( P& G) admitted Gillette was perhaps not the best it could get by taking an $8bn write-down on the brand, which it bought in 2005 for $57bn. Such success stories give bosses of consumer-facing multinationals in America and beyond the heebie-jeebies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |