#35: You Are What You Buy (Part II)
How brands influence our identity
In last week’s edition, You Are What You Buy (Part I), we discussed how what we buy says a lot about who we are. As consumers, we have nearly limitless options when it comes to purchasing clothes, food, and even more specific things like vacuums. Most products are commoditized. Consequently, many brands sell roughly the same thing through differentiated marketing and storytelling. So, when we do make a purchase, we signal support for one brand’s story and values over another’s. As a result, our purchasing choices contribute to our identity.
On the flip side, consumer brands (really any brand, but let’s stick to consumer for now) have identities too. Good brands have a distinct style, tone, and value system. These attributes come to life through a brand’s font, imagery, video, and word choice. How they show up matters, which is why brands will invest behind their logo, tagline, or even a mascot to effectively say, “hey, we’re different.”
Now, great brands are masterful storytellers. Not only do they have a clear identity, but they also weave their typography, creative content, diction, product assortment, and partnerships into a cohesive storyline. Their tales evolve over time, yet they stay true to their core values, which tend to be the driving force behind the plot they’ve created. Their story comes to life through the who, what, when, where, and how they speak to their customers. From their website to the emails they send out, their identity is consistent regardless of the medium they communicate through. And these brands recognize that they don’t need to be everywhere as they’re self-aware about which form of media their core customers are on.
As humans, our identities are formed by our experiences and choices. When we choose to buy a product from one brand over another, we pick up a piece of that brand’s identity to add to our own. Similar to the clothing example in Part I, Ten Thousand’s brand mantra of “better than yesterday” piqued my interest made me more in tune with my desire for self-improvement. I internalized Ten Thousand’s brand identity and as a result, let it influence my own.
In a similar vein as Ten Thousand, check out Minted New York. It’s a running and lifestyle clothing brand centered around simple yet performance-driven aesthetic. The brand initially gained traction from the founder posting short-form content on TikTok about the day in the life of an entrepreneur. People found this content refreshing and became more and more interested in what it takes to start a fashion company from the ground up. Now in addition to TikTok and Instagram Reels, Minted posts YouTube videos highlighting similar topics, but now in 10–15-minute formats. Viewers learn about what it tactically takes to build a fashion brand living in New York City, all while training as high-performance endurance athletes. It’s niche content, and that’s the point. It’s more authentic, which makes for excellent storytelling.
I find long-form content to be a key component in communicating brand identity because it lends itself to character development. Think about your favorite book. At the end, the characters were likely different people than they were at the start of it. This creates entertainment for the reader, or more broadly, anyone following along. In stories, people see themselves in the characters which further deepen the identity overlap.
In Minted’s YouTube videos, viewers see the ups and the downs of new product development, sale releases, and race results. For those following along, you’re able to see how they navigate challenges and improve because of them. With Minted, you’re buying into the story and the people just as much as the products they sell.
Speaking of mediums, let’s talk about short-form content. It’s important to meet customers where they are. And since there are billions of people who use TikTok and Instagram, it’s a bold move to ignore these mediums entirely. Brands can develop and maintain an identity on these platforms as well.
How a brand can differentiate itself on these platforms is by producing content that stays true to their identity and without jumping on the latest dance trend or video format. A person’s identity changes over time, however not drastically based on the flavor of the week. If you aim to create a long-term identity alignment with your customer, stay true to the value system you set out from the onset. Look, if the trend is related to brand identity, then participate. But if not, you’re aligning yourself to a hype cycle that will inevitably fade out.
Moreover, consumers are smart and can decipher when a brand is producing authentic content versus when they’re posting cheesy copycat videos. It’s unlikely that you’re going to see the Minted team posting TikTok dance videos any time soon.
Because short-form content is as the name suggests short, it can be tougher to communicate what your brand stands for in the length of a ten second video. Furthermore, it can serve as an entry point into a brand, sparking curiosity through its creative style and tone, even in short bursts. Creating a call to action in these videos to drive traffic to longer-form content helps these channels work in harmony when the goal is brand and customer identity overlap.
Taking a step back, developing a clear brand identity is a ton of work. It can certainly be difficult to prioritize this type of work as it isn’t directly tied to financial goals. However, developing a core customer set translates into a loyal customer base. To grow your business, you need to introduce new products. You’ll need to also expand where you sell your products, such as to retailers like Walmart or Target. You can lean on those who blend their identity with yours to be the first to support your brand’s growth as you chase new product and sales launches.
Think about it. If commerce is a form of self-expression, people buying your brand’s products are an act of your brand representing what they stand for. So, invest in brand identity. And in turn, others will begin to call it their own.