The 2024 Brand Activation Playbook
Building impactful brand experiences with creators & community
In 2017, Virgil Abloh and Off-White took over 23 Wall Street for an immersive experience called Off-Campus which celebrated the legendary collaboration with Nike during which Abloh redesigned ten of Nike’s most iconic models. The collaboration was as much about honoring the legacy of Nike as it was celebrating the future of the brand and the next generation of creatives. The Off-Campus event featured workshops and lectures with the top design and fashion minds in the world including Spike Lee, Shayne Oliver, Heron Preston, and various executives from Nike’s design team. The sessions dove deep into the history of specific models and highlighted what made them cultural icons. Off-Campus was a nebulous moment for design, fashion, culture, and branding that even now, in 2023, brands are trying to replicate. Brand experiences are now a core part of an engaging strategy and offer brands a way to clearly storytell using their history and make their customers seem like true friends of the brand. At a unique inflection point for luxury brands, consumers are looking for ways to directly engage with brands and are craving brand experiences now more than ever. The biggest change that brands need to be equipped for is that branding is now a conversation and a link to a community. The below insights demonstrate how to effectively create value in that conversation through brand experiences.
Branding is a sensory experience
While food may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of car, watch, or clothing brands, the culinary world shares many similar values since chefs are such expressive storytellers. Pastries and coffees also make for a highly Instagrammable moment with a high chance of going viral as plugged-in New Yorkers are constantly on the hunt for new experiences. You may have noticed that retail spaces everywhere are starting to feature cafes and restaurants, from the cafe at Aime Leon Dore to Ralph’s Coffee or even KITH’s Treats. Part of it is a novelty, the other portion keeps you engaged and immersed in the activation because everything down to the menu is highly curated and ties back to the brand in a way that detail-oriented fans will love. As your storytelling becomes more nuanced and referential, your ability to build a passionate fanbase dramatically increases.
A food & beverage brand spinoff is an excellent monetization channel and an opportunity to double down on storytelling. KITH, for example, famously has an extensive menu of ice cream called KITH Treats. Each of the flavors and names pay homage to key people or moments in founder Ronnie Fieg’s life which makes the experience seem very deliberate and sentimental. Between collaborating with Italian brand, Marni, on certain flavors to conducting seasonal popups during the holidays in Bryant Park’s Christmas village dubbed ‘KITHMAS,’ KITH Treats has turned into a full-fledged arm of KITH’s sneaker retail empire and further proves the brand’s herculean ability to storytell to the hype generation. Naturally, no food or beverage experience would be complete without a line of co-branded clothing. All of our favorite brands have mini-clothing lines dedicated to their food and beverage initiatives. Ralph Lauren has the much loved Ralph’s Coffee merchandise, Aime Leon Dore has the Cafe Leon Dore collection, and KITH has KITH treats, all with distinct clothing lines. This offers fans of the brand to stand out a little bit more. Anyone can own a Ralph Lauren hat, but a Ralph’s Coffee hat on the other hand shows that you’re that much closer to the brand and fully leaned into the ecosystem. This idea makes these pieces that much more collectable.
Creators are the key to community
Influencers are the new tastemakers and they’ve quickly gained the coveted trust of Gen-Z and millennials. As the younger demographic seeks an authentic and unique perspective, they are starting to follow influencers on TikTok, Substack, and Patreon to get involved in the conversation around products. As mentioned before, brands are ecosystems and influencers are now the conversation starters.
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