Crafting A Brand Identity That Appeals To Millennials

The rebrand everyone should study. Stanley turned $70M into $750M. By 2019, Stanley was fading. The heritage thermos brand was being pulled from shelves and competitors like YETI held 16% market share. A 100-year-old company looked destined for decline.   Then came an insight. A lifestyle blog, "The Buy Guide", featured Stanley. Their audience, mostly women, bought out inventory every time. Stanley made a bold shift: Instead of clinging to the rugged, male audience, they repositioned around millennial and Gen Z women. The strategy: → Keep the heritage of durability and quality → Redesign for modern lifestyles (cupholder fit, straws, dishwasher-safe) → Launch in trendy colors and seasonal drops → Partner with influencers and retail collabs → Build a collector culture with limited editions The result: Revenue grew from $70M to $750M in four years. From being pulled from shelves… to customers camping out for launches. Lessons for every brand: 1. Do not assume your legacy audience is your only audience. 2. Customer insights, even small ones, can spark entire transformations. 3. Rebranding does not always mean abandoning heritage. It can mean reinterpreting it. 4. Speed matters. But if you move too fast without brand integrity, you lose trust. If this resonated, repost to your network ♻️ and follow me Holly Rae Felicetta for more.

Remember when I told you I'd been working with premium non-alc wine brand, For The Love Of, to help with their content strategy? In my opinion when a company is considering how to position themselves it truly comes down to one thing.... Vibe. To position your brand in the market there are 3 things that I think hold the rank as most important. - who is your customer? Creating customer archetypes is so helpful. In this case it's older Gen Z kids who are leading the sober curious charge and millennials who still want to party and enjoy a drink but can no longer handle the hangovers. - what are your brand signals? What can you include in your imagery that will make any image your brand puts into the world obviously your brand, even if your product isn't in the image. Charlie XCX did this flawlessly by using neon green, AKA brat green. That color will be associated with her for the next 5 years. For FTLO we chose pops of bright red, nodding to both the wine and the logo. - and last but certainly not least, what is your message? Are you the beverage brand that promotes luxury and relaxation? The linen brand that is easy to wash and moms will love? FTLO's voice is very clear; you can still have fun and be the life of the party even when you're sober. From there it's deciding on the trends and seasons that you'll follow, which will change over time. For example in all of FTLO's current marketing we are using 70's inspired clothing and color tones, but with a modern twist. But those 3 core brand values, those will never budge. These images have been performing really well on socials (@drinkfortheloveof on Insta and TikTok), and the product isn't available to consumers yet. By building brand awareness and following now, by the time FTLO goes to market I have no doubt it will be a hit. What do you think?

Back in the early 2010s, Creative Environments of Hollywood were running "Live Work Loft" - a space where artists, creatives, and other professionals could (as the name suggests) live and work. But they had one huge problem with the business model: The biggest, up-and-coming artists and creatives were all millennials... And the loft's current brand didn't appeal to millennials. At all. And it wasn't just that the logo didn't meet their "tastes" or that the messaging was a "bit out of date" and just needed modernizing... The problem was that Work Life Loft wasn't meeting millennials where they were. In short, the online side of the business wasn't up to snuff. This was the golden age of web 2.0... Millennials had embraced an entirely new way of doing business. So if we wanted to bring in millennial tenants? A great online experience was the BARE minimum. This digital experience had to MATCH the creative, innovative real-life experience of living and working in the Loft. So when we started as Agency of Record... there was one thing we knew: This rebrand would be written in lines of code. To start off, we built them a stunning new website. A website that embodied the feeling of stepping into Live Work Loft, plopping down every single possession you own, and calling it home. It was a website that was cool to be on. It had vibes. Just like living in urban LA and working in proximity of other culture-defining creatives is cool. And has vibes. And once we got that website running? Interest from millennials skyrocketed. We got 35 leads in two weeks. Not just any leads -- these were people ready to pick up their lives, pay the deposit on a 1-year lease, and move into the heart of LA. And it wasn't just potential tenants that were interested thanks to this strategic rebrand... Just ~3 months after the new website launched, Creative Environments of Hollywood sold the property for $13 million -- $3 million OVER market value. Your value = your audience. If your brand doesn't suit the people you need the most... You have work to do.

I have a PSA (and a harsh truth) for the building materials industry. A large percentage of your most loyal customers are going to leave you. And there’s nothing you can do about it. In the next 5-10 years, a huge portion of our industry (in virtually every segment) is going to retire. And the new dominant consumer group is quickly becoming: Millennials. This group makes up approximately $600 billion of annual spending power. Understanding them and winning them through your marketing and sales efforts needs to be a high priority from now on. Here are 3 traits you need to know to understand Millennials and how to win their business: 1. Different Digital Channels About 93% of millennials own a smartphone and are heavily reliant on the internet when it comes to making decisions. This generation is: - Constantly connected - Seeking information Before, people would typically look to Google for opinions or reviews. But, millennials are taking their search to places like Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok. These might seem like small changes but, It says a lot about where you should be marketing. 2. Value-Driven Purchases: Millennials aren’t just looking for products. They're searching for brands that share their values and ethics because they treat every purchase they make as an investment in the company, not just as buying a product. They're researching every bit of a brand’s story... So, what's the game plan? You need to weave the story of your brand – your commitments, your journey, your values – into your marketing. Millennials are sifting through a company’s social and environmental footprint, looking for authenticity, not just another sales pitch. This doesn’t mean you slap on some green initiatives or charitable acts as afterthoughts. You need to embed these values into your brand's messaging because millennials can sense inauthenticity from a mile away, and they’re not shy about calling it out. 3. Influence This generation values authenticity. They like to hear the opinions of their peers. They're the go-to sources for product recommendations. Millennials are 247% more likely to be influenced by blogs and social media than traditional marketing efforts like ads alone. So how can you get through to them if they're so different? Strengthening Your Digital Presence The first step is to optimize for mobile. You want to engage with them through digital channels to form a connection. Social media is a great way for you to build a community for your product/service. Why? Constant connectivity helps you stay top of mind If you position your content correctly, it can give you an authentic edge. The consumer landscape is evolving. The older generation will retire. The only question is, Are you going to be proactive and get a head start on building loyalty with a new consumer base? OR Are you going to waste time money and resources catching up after the fact? #marketingstrategytips #B2Bmarketing