this is your brand with a universe
the next phase of consumer brand strategy
A cursory scroll through LinkedIn or Twitter feeds reveals a recurring theme: nostalgia for the "golden age" of advertising. Vintage Apple campaigns, iconic Volkswagen ads – it's tempting to yearn for a simpler time when a single, well-crafted message, a celebrity endorsement, or a captivating campaign could single-handedly propel a brand forward. Now, even a massive celebrity like J. Lo or Brad Pitt isn’t enough to make a brand successful.
The shift of the past two decades and the advent of social media have built a new media landscape that has made the customer-brand dynamic symbiotic. The dialogue between brand and consumer is now two-way. A comment section is a living, breathing entity that can undo millions of dollars in careful brand architecture and complex financial modeling in mere days if not moments. Brands walk a delicate line in desiring to create conversation – while not wanting to be the main character of the day. If no one is talking about your brand, does it even exist?
As such, the traditional broadcast advertising model and the typical strategic ‘brand’ endeavor feel one-note or out of touch with the reality of day-to-day brand building. It can feel instructive, pedantic, or even didactic, and ultimately inflexible for brand managers, content creators, or community managers to disseminate. At the core of this reality is the simple fact that there are seemingly endless channels for brands to activate, and each channel has a specific audience, culture, and creative considerations that brands must answer to at a baseline for success.
In the absence of religion and other community belonging, consumers yearn to find the brands they can use as signals for identity curation and kinship – signaling to other Glossier or Stanley cup girls that no actually, we’re the same. Brands do this signaling implicitly (owning Aesop hand soap reveals something about you - well-to-do, metropolitan, etc) or explicitly (think: Supreme box logo). Whether through accident or intention, these brands have developed a distinctive set of creative and communication codes that help with consumption-first identity formation. Being a part of something bigger feels good; being told who to be doesn’t.
“Great brands are based on stories that tap into deep belief systems. And to stand out today, brands need to think of themselves as stories that tap into belief systems, because belief systems can draw like-minded people together and spark transformation certainly more than any specific product or feature.”
– Sara Wilson, audience-first brand, content & community strategist
The reality is that brands live in a larger communications ecosystem – a universe – a constellation of messages, creative approaches, and touchpoints that serve to propel a larger brand message. For modern brand building, brands must build a rich immersive world anchored in a core value proposition that radiates outward and builds a sense of community and shared identity. Even heritage brands like Loewe have come to understand how to show up differently across platforms. The Loewe of Instagram is different from the Loewe of TikTok, because the differing audience desires and cultural norms of the platform dictate this differentiation; while curated whimsy works for Instagram, bolder humor thrives on TikTok.
A broader, entertainment-focused brand strategy also opens the door for new revenue models and IP. From fashion brands seeking to become entertainment companies and building studios to fitness brands like Equinox building hotels, to the Ikea Roblox store, a universe-focused approach diversifies a business, taking its core ethos outwards for fans and obsessives, intensifying the cultural impact of the brand.
“As brands seek to become more multiplayer, they intentionally create centers of gravity for attention and adherence. The mistake that brand marketers often make is limiting these centers of gravity to particular products, services, or offerings.”
– Phillip Jackson, Co-Founder, Future Commerce
What is a brand universe strategy, and how is it different from a brand strategy?
Brand Universe Strategy (n.): A post-modern brand development approach exceeding the confines of traditional product differentiation. It prioritizes a flexible and cohesive brand experience across all customer touchpoints, cultivating an emotional resonance with the target audience.
Unlike standard brand strategy's emphasis on messaging and positioning, a brand universe strategy fosters a sense of community and shared identity, transforming customers into co-creators within the brand's world. This immersive approach allows the brand to maintain a fixed core identity or concept while expressing itself differently across channels, fostering deeper brand loyalty and emotional connection, ultimately achieving a distinct and enduring market position.
The core differentiation from brand strategy to brand universe strategy is beginning the branding exercise with the understanding that (1) there is a core brand message, idea, or offering your brand is attempting to communicate and (2) beyond the purchase, you desire to leave a lasting creative, identity-based, aspiration-focused, or context-based association in your consumer’s mind that leverages culture, personalities, and even other brands.
“A clear brand universe is not just about the brand, but about the unique, evolving constellation of connections to other brands, personalities, places online and off, and other cultural touchpoints, that create the fullest, richest context and associations in the audience(s)’s mind when juxtaposed all together.”
– Nick Susi, Executive Director of Strategy, dotdotdash
Instead of starting brand first, you’re now starting cultural impact and audience first. Rather than listing 40 different benefits for Balm Dotcom (which is arguably just expensive Vaseline), Glossier built an aspirational thing to become: a Glossier girl. Ten years ago, a tube of Balm Dotcom was cuter to look at than a tube of Carmex or Aquaphor, and throwing a sticker or two on it made it yours. And by making it your own, you said something about yourself; by being the first one to get Glossier, you were in the know.
Why should my brand leverage a brand universe strategy?
Brands that become modern icons do so by building obsessively for the niche and eventually going wider for mass appeal. Through their growth stages, they maintain a ‘wink’ or an IYKYK set of codes for devotees to remain obsessives. They understand that through their myth-making, they build a subconscious set of associations that become unforgettable.
These brands want to connect deeply with a set of key cultural leaders – the first ones who are ‘in the know’ and are highly followed or admired/emulated so that they can eventually reach mainstream audiences. They focus singularly and obsessively on these early niche audiences and increase the surface area for these audiences to interact and engage with them through channel, product, and messaging differentiation.
Glossier, Goop, Liquid Death – each of these brands is polarizing and has spawned a culture of reflexive commentary on their every action: simply because they were obsessed with being somewhat antagonistic when it comes to obeying conventional brand-building wisdom. A brand whose potential audience is every person on earth is a dead brand; a brand whose audience is a narrow archetype of a particular type of downtown NYC dweller or out-of-touch wellness obsessive is a brand that creates active conversation. Sometimes brands are more about who they are not trying to reach, versus who they are trying to reach – Goop is a great example of an alienating strategy.
“Semiotically speaking, the most culturally incisive brands strategically leverage the self-awareness that a brand functions as a “myth” in culture, so to say. Iconic brands are comprised of signs and symbols that can resonate quite powerfully with people, particularly on a subconscious level. And so to be a culturally intelligent marketer today means not only to seek a relevant insight that can speak to a pain point or resolve a specific consumer need but to construct much more meaningful values-driven narratives around what the brand represents and stands for.”
– Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel, Author of Cultural Intelligence for Marketers
Practically speaking, a brand universe strategy allows:
Flexibility for the Evolving Landscape: The Brand Universe Strategy isn't a rigid script, but a dynamic framework. It allows you to adapt messaging, content, and experiences across different channels and platforms as trends and customer preferences evolve.
Deeper, imaginative storytelling: Brand universes are dynamic ecosystems, not static logos. They allow you to explore new creative avenues, experiment with interactive formats like AR/VR, and engage customers in imaginative ways.
Capitalize on the Power of Fandom: Consumers crave immersive experiences and shared identities. A brand universe, with its lore, symbols, and characters, taps into the human desire for belonging.
A Unified Growth Engine: Community, Brand, and Performance: Brand universes aren't just about storytelling; they're strategic business tools. They allow you to cultivate an engaged community of brand ambassadors who actively participate and drive growth across channels.
Simple to Grasp, Easy to Adapt and Remix: Anchored in a simple, ownable, and sometimes meme-able format, through use of color, typography or language brand codes are easy for consumers to tap into and make their own – making them a voice for the brand, and a brand a symbol of their belonging.
Which brands should build a brand universe, and how do I begin?
A brand universe strategy is not necessarily the right approach for every single brand, particularly those in categories where trust outweighs the need for entertainment. Consumers don’t want their banks or politicians to be universes – they want them to be trustworthy and reliably boring. But for upstart lifestyle brands, there is a great deal of upside in developing your brand universe-first.
A brand universe is a great fit for:
Crowded categories: For fashion and beauty brands, the symbolic value can sometimes outweigh quality and product efficacy; there are thousands of sweatshirts and lip balms to purchase, but creative differentiation, storytelling, and provocation are tools that can create an outsized impact
Taboos or controversy: Brands (or even individuals) that are courting (careful) controversy or approaching taboo subjects, where being slightly antagonistic or humorous is beneficial
Mascot-first brands: Brands that have a mascot or are considering a mascot as a piece of IP and storytelling
Brands in reinvention: Brands that are undergoing a serious revitalization effort and therefore must develop new signs, symbols, and stories to connect with a new audience
To build a brand universe strategy, consider the brand’s desired cultural impact before all else and work inwards towards the desired audiences, core brand message, values, etc. Think carefully about how this message is expressed practically, and why people will care.
Below, I’ve included some questions to ask yourself and a sample model for rolling out your universe strategy per channel.
Why does our brand need this model? Are we entering a crowded category or desiring reinvention?
What is the cultural impact we want to have with this model? Do we want to change the narrative around acne, for example?
Are there key characters, lore, or other considerations?
On which channels does each part of this universe come to life?
Is there an easy-to-understand creative device, platform, or framework that makes this immediately recognizable?
To begin rolling out - and pressure-testing your strategic model, take yourself through the practicalities of leveraging it across a single comms channel. Are you able to take the brand’s universe statement and translate it into a key narrative for that channel? What are different content or storytelling levers to pull, etc?
Further reading, and special thanks:
Cult Brand Behavior by Alex Tran
Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel, Nick Susi, Phillip Jackson, and Sara Wilson for their thoughtful conversation and contributions.
Thanks for reading this piece which has taken me six months to put into practice in my own work, and prove out – anything I write, I practice in actual, real client work. I’m currently looking to partner with new clients and brands: hello@blankprojects.co
To download a deck version of this essay, visit here.
This was an incredible read. I've always said how the best brands build entire worlds rather just being a logo and color palette. This has me thinking how this could apply to a service based industry rather than just a product based business?
Wow! This is brilliant. Thought provoking and a lovely angle 🙌