Great Big Brands and Great Micro Brands,
Historically, great brands has meant great big brands. Big brands build connections to things that make you feel good, and hope some of that goodwill sticks to their brand and products.
Since the 1920s, Coca Cola has used imagery and messaging to stake a claim to be the Christmas brand, though the theory they invented the modern depiction of Santa is a little wide of the mark.
More recently, British retailer John Lewis has used (now hotly anticipated) tear-jerking Christmas videos to build their own claim to that most wonderful time of the year.
Sponsorships and endorsements are used to draw aura from the sponsored entity. A financial premium is placed above the value of attributable traffic or sales, to be known as the airline of Manchester United or the timepiece of F1.
Celebrities offer a similar platform, such as Kendall Jenner being paid to drink Pepsi.
Brands support these platform with more functional messaging to encourage you to picture yourself in someone else’s shoes. If they drive/fly/drink that brand, I become cooler by doing the same.
You will preference that brand, or be willing to pay more for that brand, because of the intangible feeling you get through your experience as a consumer of that brand or product.
Social media has given big brands the opportunity to amplify their messages and connect with consumers in new ways, but it has also changed the game. Influencers now play the role of micro celebrities that can work in niche verticals, but are also increasingly acting as affiliate marketers for brands. They’re a branding platform and a sales channel at the same time. This allows smaller brands to enter this space. You may have seen endorsement content for high-margin smaller brands such as teeth whitening kits, start-up eyewear brands and fast fashion.
The news feed model of Facebook and Instagram has blurred the lines between brands and friends. A brand-orientated message now competes directly with your friends for that like or double tap.
The way that social platforms choose to display brand content is based on two factors: how much you’re willing to pay to be there, and whether this is content our users will like (i.e. revenue and users having a good experience).
This has created a two-speed brand economy on social channels:
- Larger brands allocate budgets to display their content, though many struggle with achieving engagement, and instead look to generate traffic rather than likes and comments.
- Smaller brands creating content that their customers will love and engage with.
These smaller brands found that they had a position which resonated with consumers on social:
- They’re small teams of likeable people who talk as the brand
- They’re often solving a problem from a personal pain point, such as being a mum who couldn’t find something that she wanted, so she made it herself
- They aren’t shackled by process and bureaucracy. They create content quickly, and talk instantly
One of the first brands we saw that behaved this way was five:am. A Melbourne-based organic yoghurt brand. We had a unique view as my marketing agency ran the social strategy and activation from its very early days until just before being acquired. Customers loved the brand and went in to bat for us when we needed to put pressure on a large retailer to say yes to stocking the brand, doubling its retail footprint.
From this point, micro brands have exploded.
Take the brewing industry. In 2013, there were 2,952 craft brewers across the U.S; by 2017 that number had more than doubled to 6,372. The big brands have few answers to the way markets are changing. Anheuser-Busch InBev recently bought its 10th craft brewer.
Answers to the question ‘who are your favourite brands?’ would elicit very different responses today vs 3 years ago.
These brands quickly build an ecommerce website through Shopify, Wix etc. and drive traffic through social. They have challenges, that we’re helping solve at Postie, but the landscape is exploding.
Micro brands have their own version of greatness because they’re instantly likeable, can quickly build a following and customer base and the experience of buying from a micro brand feels like you’re supporting a friend.
While deep pockets and broad distribution has been a moat for large brands in the past, micro brands are using creativity and relationships with customers to erode market share. Your favourite friendly Instagram brand might be responsible for some more changes to the high street over the coming months and years.
