The attention economy drives most “growth brands” and businesses that feed the attention beast gain an unfair share of voice – especially amongst younger audiences.
Looking at the speed and volume of content that brands like SKIMS create, it becomes clear that other brands hoping to grow should take note and follow.
In one 45-day period alone (September - October 23) they launched 12 campaigns, either as new products (Body, Foundations, Halloween, SKIMS for Men, the infamous “nipple bra”, Swarovski range, Holiday range, ) or collaborations with celebrities (best of SKIMS with 5 new ambassadors, Cardi B for SKIMS, Mens ambassadors incl. Neymar Jr., NBA partnership, WNBA partnership, US basketball partnership, Holiday campaign with Kim Kardashian). This is summed up exceptionally well on this TikTok from Creative Director Oren John.
The speed and intensity of this level of promotion is aimed at stealing as much attention as possible. But it’s not necessarily the volume of output that has grabbed the attention but the noise and surprise attached to the activities.
Most of these launches spotlight a personality, whether it’s the co-owner herself or the celebrities and influencers they've attached to each campaign.
But the more viral releases have featured the product itself at the heart of the narrative. SKIMS Halloween catsuits were only topped by the very viral Nipple Bra which dominated social media for a good amount of time. The chatter around the built-in nipples ran long enough for the bra’s “aims” (bringing attention to rising global temperatures with 10% of profit going to relevant causes) to get a little lost amongst the noise and attention of Kardashian in the bra itself…
But a brand’s core product might not be able to play in this kind of space regularly. A brand may for instance have a well loved product that shouldn’t be tinkered with, or maybe they’re a service or a chain of stores selling a lot of other brands products.
This is where merch comes in.
Making great merch is a bit of a dark art. Working with the best suppliers and manufacturers to craft a beautiful T or hoodie will only get you as far as the passionate fans you may already have. To truly gain new fans and buyers, brands need to create spectacle to the mix to get marketing wins beyond merch itself.
The Panera BAGuette took over social feeds early in the year with their luxury purse designed to hold one of the fast-casual restaurants’ new range of toasted baguettes.
The bag is pretty genius. It’s low cost ($US39) but sports all the codes of a high-end bag with embossed “faux leather”, a monogrammed clasp and a bold attention-grabbing colour. What is even more clever is that the brand’s own visual identity – or brand codes for the Mark Ritson fans – are ever present but believable in this execution. A clever dance of great design meeting a fun marketing idea.
The release was timed around New York Fashion Week aiming to get on the radar of media looking for fashion-based spectacle, which worked, seeing the bags sell out, restocked and then sold out again in the space of a few days. Reselling on eBay saw prices of almost $US300 being asked for.
7-11 tapped into the zeitgeist in August with their Golf capsule. The surprise of pairing the rarified country club game with the Everyman’s convenience store caught attention quickly - with some polarisation. Its sense of humour and joy definitely helped the range make a splash in pop culture with a lot of commentators surprised and excited by the thought given to the pieces, whilst still ensuring the 7-11 brand was front and centre.
Starbucks made an interesting play this year around the launch of their 20th year of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. The “PSL” is a seasonal release, so it already has a cultish fanbase amongst its regular consumers in the northern hemisphere, who await the turning of the leaves, signalling the arrival of PSL onto Starbucks’ menu boards.
To celebrate, Starbucks collaborated with designer KidSuper. Whilst maybe not a name on the lips of everyday consumers, the designer is most famous for supporting Louis Vuitton as interim Creative Director after Virgil Abloh passed away, overseeing the FW 2023 collection. Working with KidSuper allowed Starbucks to speak to an audience they may not regularly speak to, getting onto the radar of drop-culture fashion blogs such as Hypebeast and others.
The collaboration saw the release of a varsity letter jacket - patched in motifs referencing the 20th anniversary of Starbucks’s famous beverage in a tasteful & playful way.
Liquid Death released arguably the most obvious but also the cleverest piece of merch this year - a brown paper bag can cooler. It leans into the role Liquid Death saw as its reason for being – an alternative to alcohol that doesn't look like a compromise for status-sensitive males – and extends the experience for fans, mimicking the brown paper bags beers are sold in from bodegas across the USA.
Another collaboration currently grabbing headlines is the Balenciaga x Erewhon collaborative merch range. Balenciaga has just had their first LA-based runway event and used the opportunity to build buzz by collaborating with Erewhon - a brand that’s no stranger to fashion collaborations.
Both brands are leaning into their OTT status symbol versions of street-level goods – streetwear and groceries respectively – to deliver merch with prices ranging from $425 to $1,150 USD. The most talked about part of the collaboration was the signature Balenciaga Super-smoothie that was a part of the invitations to the event. The jet black concoction made from "apple, lemon, ginger, cinnamon, maple (all organic), and charcoal — which gives it its color and adds to its detoxifying benefits,” was referred to online as “the blood of children” or “toxic sludge”.
The $US14 bottle is currently fetching asks of about $US140–150 on Grailed and eBay…Both brands have played with the brand codes that they have in common – exclusivity, high-end products and a little introspective irony – to build hype and buzz for Balenciaga’s collections.
Whilst not everyone is hunting for a $1400 price tag for their brand’s hoodies, by building spectacle in branded merch through either collaboration or clever creative ideas, merch can be a cost-effective vehicle to create buzz and noise for a business’s marketing activities.
3 other things
Rimowa’s holiday campaign is just lovely