July 21, 2005
global microbrands etc
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From Trendwatching: The Nouveau Niche.
Consumers are more individualized than ever, expecting every good, service and experience to be addressing their unique and oh so important selves. Gone are the traditional demographic segments, the distinct consumer classes: this is all about being MASTERS OF THE YOUNIVERSE. Gone too are the days when, as BusinessWeek so eloquently put it; “the ideal was not merely to keep up with the Joneses, but to be the Joneses.” In a NOUVEAU NICHE world, where the demise of institutions and their stifling conventions has unlocked latent hyper individualization, where it is all about ‘me’ (for better or worse), where being special will lend consumers status, to be mass is now every consumer’s nightmare. Witness GRAVANITY, witness MASSCLUSIVITY. Even the few mass objects of desire that still manage to unite large groups of consumers — iPods, Nokia handsets, or the Mini Cooper — are likely to be customized and personalized the moment they leave the warehouse, website or store.
Consumers are also more experienced than ever. They expertly cut through the crap, ignore advertising, and know which quality and price levels are fair. They actively hunt for the best of the best, [my italics] and the best of the best is often NOT mass. (The only mass they’re willing to put up with is the stuff they don’t really care about and can get on the cheap at Aldi or WalMart). As Chris Anderson, author of the excellent Long Tail article points out, the only reason mass used to equal ‘hit’, had to do with the now outdated perception that if something sells well, it must certainly be good.
Yep, I can relate. Last February (before English Cut had taken off) I wrote:
We have gone beyond the tipping point. We are not blogging because it’s cool or hip. It’s now mostly about survival.
We have entered an age where anyone who wants to make a living above minimum wage will have to get used to the idea of building and owning their own “global microbrand”. If you’re not blogging already, I would start. Seriously.
Re. All this sort of stuff I like to write about– blogs, English Cut, The Hughtrain, Seth Godin and his Purple Cow, the slow death of Madison Avenue and Big Media, The Cluetrain, etc etc:
It’s all connected. In the last week or so English Cut got e-mails from people wanting appointments, from all over: Dubai, Japan, San Francisco, Washington, Atlanta, New York, India, etc.
It’s all about The Global Microbrand. English Cut is my way of expressing it. But had it not been suits, had I not had a friend who was a Savile Row tailor, it would’ve been something else.
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You wrote: “We have entered an age where anyone who wants to make a living above minimum wage will have to get used to the idea of building and owning their own “global microbrand”. If you’re not blogging already, I would start. Seriously.“
(Quoting yourself, no less!)
Unfortunately, I think you’re getting too absorbed in the microuniverse of your own blog, and are actually starting to believe everything you write. Seriously.
I like the cartoons, though.
Hugh Talks “Global Microbrand”
It’s been said that a mark of intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas equally (or something like that). As an example, in Oct 2004, Hugh wrote Branding is Dead. Later, he wrote:We have entered an age where anyone who wants to make a livi…
Hey Yoda,
What part do you disagree with?
Just curious.
Brands (micro or not) are dead. English Cut is not a brand — it’s an excellent service/product that can command what used to be called a premium price. It is remarkable but it was underexposed — now it isn’t.
However, it cannot represent the universal/global future because by definition not all prices can be premium (sure they all have to incorporate a profit margin to be sustainable but that’s very different from premium pricing).
The reality is that the major trend out there is away from premium pricing — think Primark, think Costco — and with that driver comes an inevitable reduction in choice. Costco undercuts Walmart because it stocks fewer lines in each category and therefore can cut better volume deals.
If we are all time-poor, then the proliferation of choice is a double-edged sword in most demographics and most product categories. So mass production is not going to vanish (and sadly that applies to the overpopulated blogosphere as well). A world of premium priced products and services is impossible. A world of remarkable (for their price) products and services is what we should be seeking.
P.S. And what proportion of the I Pods, Nokia handsets and Mini Coopers that you’ve seen lately were actually customised?
“A world of remarkable (for their price) products and services is what we should be seeking. “
Agreed.
English Cut is pretty cheap for what you’re getting, actually
Agreed — that’s why you’ve been able to enhance its success via a blog that is essentially a constantly updating and passionate corporate website with the boring stuff omitted.
P.S. Can I have that cartoon on my business card?
Nouveau Niche
Hat Tip to Hugh from gapingvoid on his post about Global Microbrands and the link to Trendwatch.com. Hugh, my corp friends that are stuck behind firewalls cannot access your site. They are more interested in your cartoons than anything.
Nouveau Niche
BusinessWeek called it ‘The Vanishing Mass Market’, Wired Magazine spoke of the Lost Boys and the Long Tail. Others talk about Niche Mania, Stuck in the Middle, or Commoditization Chaos. We at TRENDWATCHING.COM dubbed it NOUVEAU NICHE [via Gaping Void]…
Hey,
Demogramphics — people are getting older and living longer — they want fewer shit, mass-produced products or experiences,
Kids want to be cool — not too much mass there, x-tremesports
Too much of the same kind of stuff with little difference,
Values are getting greener!
The net is making it possible for anyone to create and sell.
pimped out coopers are over fl. ca. az. climate
Brands aren’t dead. “English Cut” is a brand. Sony. Toyota. Brands are a good thing. They give the consumer a certain amount of confidence in their purchase. Especially in things that provide a ‘service’ in our lives. (Toasters, washing machines etc.)
Where we are getting micro are in the areas of self-expression (clothes, jewelry, music, cars.) However, there still has to be some trust that if I’m payng for a product that allows my personality to shine out into the world then I don’t want to be shysted with a high price and end up with a low quality piece-of-crap that I could have gotten cheaper at some mass production outlet.
Take the Gaping Void t-shirt, for example. Not a well-known brand in my psyche, no money back guarantee, and not really a “cool” factor if I wear it on the street. (Sorry Hugh.) So my fingers clenched around my wallet and balked at the price. (Yes, I’m an American…)
The Universe is overcrowded with good ideas and good products and great blogs. There is no way to possibly experience or consume all of them.
The global future is (was and always will be?) “word of mouth.” And the “word” will reach as wide a circle of consumers as the universal need that the product feeds.
Feed my soul somehow. That’s what we’re all willing to pay through the nose for. Either that or just allow me to purchase something so razzle dazzle that it allows me to cover up the fact that I no longer have a soul.