Decoding the Consumer-led Craze: Why Are Brands Losing Their Soul?
People need something to believe in, especially now.
Each issue of Codex, written by a different member of the TRIPTK team, digs into the ephemera, artifacts, case studies, and conversations most interesting to them at the moment.
It’s for readers who want to give more to culture: to contribute vs. appropriate, embed vs. watch from afar, lead vs. follow. Follow along for the ride.
Decoding the consumer-led craze & the loss of brand soul
This particular edition of Codex has been cathartic to write.
Identity is no longer monolithic. It’s dimensional and fluid, constantly shaped by consumers who left behind neat categories, narrow definitions, and singular associations for something more nuanced, multifaceted, and even absurd.
This “evolution of self'“ has inspired waves of consumer-led brand marketing (and nauseating thought leadership reports). Too many brand are becoming little more than advocates for ambiguous collections of ever-changing identities and values. And while campaigns like Spotify Wrapped show us what getting personalization right looks like, many brands are meekly following their consumers.
For whatever kind of fun you’re seeking, there's a Nissan to match your vibe. No matter who you are, New Balance wants you to run your way. Hydro Flask wants you to live life to the fullest while owning your individuality. Champion wants to help you live your true purpose by “championing” what moves you.
This open-ended, “you do you” approach has inadvertently become a brand crutch and created an entire generation of “fill-in-the-blank” brands that have relinquished control and dulled their perspective in hopes of appealing to the masses. Marketers, say it with me: “Appeal to everyone—appeal to no one.”
Consumers will always provide input into our brands, but they shouldn’t wholly define them. People don’t need our permission (or our brand platforms) to be who they are; they need clear perspectives, shared beliefs, and communities to embrace or reject or buy into. Operating merely as a conduit for consumer passion isn’t a strategy, it’s a cop out—and it’s why so many great brands are losing their souls.
Recoding a return to conviction, where brand belief matters
Rather than demanding their participation as the paint on a blank canvas, consumers need brands who aren’t afraid to show up fully realized—with an ownable point of view, tangible contributions, and a clear sense of who they are and aren’t for.
From Brand as Consumer Canvas
What is it? A submissive brand ecosystem made to mirror consumer taste and identity. Canvas Brands hijack perspective and chase short-term relevance.
These brands take from consumer identity by using brand spaces, products and experiences as “blank canvases” that allow the personal perspectives, styles, and expressions of consumers to stand in for their own.
To Brand as Source of Conviction
What is it? A sharp and distinguished brand ecosystem made to inspire consumer taste and identity. Convicted Brands build belief and foster long-term resonance.
These brands contribute to consumer identity by providing distinct products, ideas, experiences, and styles that consumers can use to help shape and define their own beliefs, tastes, and expressions.
So, how can we make the shift? If you’re a brand builder, here’s four actions that will help you build a convicted brand universe:
Build character worth following by providing original perspective and taste.
Consider how the brand could establish a sense of taste and originality that seems irresistible—largely because it isn’t needy, following the flow of culture, but rather needed, a leader to follow as an acolyte.
What could it look like?
Nadia Lee Cohen for SKIMS in a new collab with Dolce & Gabbana provides a unique, elaborately Italian departure from typical category takes.
Ice cream is ubiquitous, but Salt & Straw’s line of culinary perfumes offers an unorthodox, whimsical approach to personalizing dessert.
What to avoid? Absorbing and spitballing the convictions, styles, and expressions of others.
Build lore and reward loyalty by embracing brand borders and gatekeeping.
After years and years of “affordable luxury” and the mainstreaming of valuable brands, perhaps it’s time to lock the door again. Luxury isn’t for everyone.
What could it look like?
Anyone can shop at Hermés, but only insiders are allowed access to the coveted Birkin handbag—in-store, as designed, and often after a 2+ year wait.
Gatekeeping transformed Chanel’s 20/21 Métiers D'Art show from a major setback (COVID) to an iconic event (a private show just for Kristen Stewart).
What to avoid? Softening ideas, perspectives, and standards to make the brand more applicable to everyone.
Prompt awareness and inspire participation by creating moments of texture and friction within fluid experiences.
Texture is the process by which we wake people up—like sandpaper, we feel an experience in full detail and remember how it affected us.
What could it look like?
While In-n-Out’s secret menu might not be so secret anymore, it still requires individual effort to uncover and understand the lexicon & off-menu items.
Hawaiian shop 808 Skate required would-be buyers of the coveted Yuto Horigome x Nike SB Dunks to land a kickflip (with their own skateboard).
What to avoid? Stifling acts of personal choice and systematizing self-discovery.
Fuel passion and innovation by inviting healthy forms of conflict and consumer debate.
Half of having a distinct POV means that someone, naturally, will disagree with you. Making space for it means you feel human, rather than an LLM with good art direction.
What could it look like?
Winning isn’t for Everyone is helping Nike rebuild equity and recenter its brand by sparking discussion about the very nature of competition.
Rather than shy away from negative opinions or scandals, Oatly created Fck Oatly to catalog and elevate them—embracing controversy on its own terms.
What to avoid? Suppressing discourse, dispute, and other natural forms of conflict.
Worthy recommendations from Frankie Margotta
Each issue, we share a series of recommendations from our team—both cultural artifacts (podcasts, books, essays, movies, playlists) and more philosophical pursuits (questions, processes, advice).
Community Impact? Dreams+Ducats
Dreams+Ducats is a San Diego-based education nonprofit working to evolve the learning paradigm alongside community and culture. I’ve had the honor to work with the D+D team and can confirm they're continuing to inspire new precedents, drive systemic change, and raise the bar in education for staff and students alike.
Course? ZINE x McLuhan Institute: Understanding Media
Understanding Media is a collaborative, intimate seminar series hosted by ZINE x The McLuhan Institute. I was fortunate to be a part of the inaugural cohort last year, leaving with a much deeper understanding of media theory. Cohort 002 just closed, but I’d highly recommend keeping an eye out for 003.
Advice? Reach out to someone you haven’t heard from.
That person who’s been on your mind. That text you’ve been putting off. We’re all busy, and there’s just never going to be enough time. But that’s all the more reason we shouldn’t underestimate the power of a quick check-in.
Links shared this month in Slack / over text / in decks
After software eats the world, what comes out the other end?: “As Alison Gopnik points out, LLMs are quite good at reproducing culture, but not so good at introducing cultural variation.”
How Marathons Became Fashion Shows: “With fashion and running culture increasingly intersecting, major marathons provide perfect venues for brands to market both performance and lifestyle products to a pool of shoppers willing to spend big on footwear and merch.”
The Banality of Online Recommendation Culture: “A recent surge of human-curated guidance is both a reaction against and an extension of the tyranny of algorithmic recommendations.”
Why brand historians are CMOs’ new best friends: “A need for engaging social media content is fueling renewed interest in the archives.”
Last month, we launched TRIPTK's new website, featuring fresh new work and new brand identity. We also announced the appointment of Dr. Marcus Collins to a new Chairman Advisory Role for TRIPTK. From our CEO, Sam Hornsby:
“We’re eager to welcome Dr. Marcus Collins as a highly valuable addition to our community. Our strong shared interest in harnessing the power of culture to drive commercial outcomes makes this a natural and powerful partnership.”
About TRIPTK & Codex
TRIPTK is a brand & innovation consultancy. We partner with leaders to decode and recode critical cultural shifts, creating brand value for today and tomorrow.
Codex is a monthly newsletter sharing the TRIPTK perspective. It’s for readers who want to give more to culture: to contribute vs. appropriate, embed vs. watch from afar, lead vs. follow.
If you like this newsletter, consider subscribing – or sharing with others who might enjoy it. Feel free to comment, email, say hey, and/or send us things to read.
Couldn't agree more! Love how you put it - people don't need brand permission to be themselves. Empty brands are guaranteed to fail. They need real perspectives and POVs that communities can choose to embrace or reject. That's why building iconic brands is such hard, endless work - it's not for the faint of heart. Well put Frankie!
Great read. I couldn't agree more that brands need a sharper POV on what they stand for instead of giving a blank canvas to consumers. I LOVE what adidas is doing right now with its Anthony Edwards "Believe That" campaign. The boldness inevitably inspired Nike to be more aggressive with its marketing, hence the birth of "Winning isn't for Everyone."