Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy

“Adorkable” Brands, Blands, and CARLY (feat. Ben Schott, Bloomberg)

Episode Summary

Bloomberg’s Ben Schott wrote the story that shook the millennial-pink branding world. His article on “modern blands” opened the eyes of many who felt tired by the well-trodden aesthetic of modern millennial brands. His most recent piece, “Generation Z, You’re Adorkable”, focuses its lens on Gen Z-focused brands and how their countercultural tactics might be nothing more than big-corp brutalism. Listen now!

Episode Notes

What Are Blands? What are Dazzle Brands? What are Adorkables?

• “Blands are the identikit army of disruptive direct to consumer startups.” - Ben Schott
• Blands are DTC brands that all have a neutral and friendly aesthetic, who claim to be unique, but are all the same in terms of their identikit formula, business model, and tone of voice.
• In WWI, a british artist created a new form of Marine camouflage called Dazzle Painting, which didn’t aim to make anything hidden, but to make it difficult to target.
• Ben correlates this to brands that distract consumers: persuading consumers that bad is good (potato chips), that good is bad (margarine), or bad is bad (Death Cigarettes).
• “Adorkables are a growing gang of disruptive brands that definitely target Gen Z with a jarring, visual aesthetic and authentic emotional appeal.” - Ben Schott
• “While Blands seduce millenials with an ever receding notion of self-actualization, Adorkables double down on Gen Z’s internal conflict between self-consciousness and self-promotion.” - Ben Schott

Punks and Posers of Gen Z

• Ben theorizes that big brands will absorb the culture of Gen Z brands: “That’s exactly what big brands do. They look for the marginal edge trends and they devour them.”
• In much of the way that punk rock killed disco deliberately, Ben wonders how much Gen Z is faking its aesthetic - because Gen Z brands are naturally ‘rebellious,’ but are run by the establishment.
• There’s a dissonance between the target market of CARLY (Can’t Afford Real Life Yet) brands and the actual price point of those brands - which moreso matches HENRY (High Earner Not Rich Yet) brands.
• Gen Z has a link with impermanence - renting, subscription services vs. buying products directly, etc. This impermanence “changes your attitude towards saving, towards money… [it becomes] about experiences… That instant surge gratification you get from consumption, that then leaves you empty. By that stage, it’s time to consume again.” - Ben Schott
• On a positive note: “Experiences are very important. It’s not just pure consumption, but it’s about living in the moment.” - Ben Schott

Links

• Find Ben Schott on Bloomberg!
• Read Ben’s recent article, “Generation Z, You’re Adorkable,” on Bloomberg.

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