In all honesty we should educate young people ie. young consumers to be more mindful when shopping, when living, but also when talking about fashion with the so-called adults, hopefully in the longer term someone like Brandy leaves our planet because truly educated young consumers didn't find them so dandy. Thanks for giving me and others food for thoughts. 🤓📚🔖💯
This one hit home for me working in brand social media. Particularly, the shortcomings of a personified brand presence. In real-time, I’ve seen that shift from brands using “I” to reverting back to using “we” while still trying to remain relevant/relatable to the customer. There are only so many ways you can humanize your brand until it’s all been done.
This entire piece is incredible, but the line about how BM "gained popularity like carbon monoxide, filling the air with its noxiousness, but emitting no color or odor" is the kill shot.
The thing I personally find interesting about Brandy Melville is that while a lot of the skeevier aspects of the brand were kept under the rug, they explicitly named one of their sub-labels John Galt (as in, the Objectivist ubermensch from "Atlas Shrugged") ... and now I'm wondering if there's an even stronger linkage between the "project" of life under Instagram and Randian philosophy. (The "girlboss" would be the obvious node between the two, probably.)
Thank you Quiara! Yes, the John Galt nod to Atlas Shrugged totally went under my radar. In the doc they actually share that Marsan gave copies of the book to the retail employees....so odd. BM was clearly a vehicle for Marsan and his cohorts to spread their own unsavory ideologies, in addition to being a money-making vehicle.
Yeah I grew up with Brandy Melville too and one of my former friends worked there, I can still remember the smell of that store. It was almost like an industrial warehouse scent. I’m sure you know what I mean
Such great knowledge in here - especially the parasocial approach companies are taking that have proven successful. I was going to write on which brands are missing the mark with that kind of behavior and the use of ai generated content, whereas some have been successful, like Duolingo. Would love to connect if that’s interesting to you!
So glad you enjoyed this piece!! It’s such an interesting topic, with so many brands finding more invasive/personal ways to connect with potential customers. Feel free to DM me on Substack! Would love to chat
In all honesty we should educate young people ie. young consumers to be more mindful when shopping, when living, but also when talking about fashion with the so-called adults, hopefully in the longer term someone like Brandy leaves our planet because truly educated young consumers didn't find them so dandy. Thanks for giving me and others food for thoughts. 🤓📚🔖💯
This one hit home for me working in brand social media. Particularly, the shortcomings of a personified brand presence. In real-time, I’ve seen that shift from brands using “I” to reverting back to using “we” while still trying to remain relevant/relatable to the customer. There are only so many ways you can humanize your brand until it’s all been done.
This entire piece is incredible, but the line about how BM "gained popularity like carbon monoxide, filling the air with its noxiousness, but emitting no color or odor" is the kill shot.
The thing I personally find interesting about Brandy Melville is that while a lot of the skeevier aspects of the brand were kept under the rug, they explicitly named one of their sub-labels John Galt (as in, the Objectivist ubermensch from "Atlas Shrugged") ... and now I'm wondering if there's an even stronger linkage between the "project" of life under Instagram and Randian philosophy. (The "girlboss" would be the obvious node between the two, probably.)
Thank you Quiara! Yes, the John Galt nod to Atlas Shrugged totally went under my radar. In the doc they actually share that Marsan gave copies of the book to the retail employees....so odd. BM was clearly a vehicle for Marsan and his cohorts to spread their own unsavory ideologies, in addition to being a money-making vehicle.
wow my brain right now!
<333 thank you for reading!!
Yeah I grew up with Brandy Melville too and one of my former friends worked there, I can still remember the smell of that store. It was almost like an industrial warehouse scent. I’m sure you know what I mean
Oh totally - the Soho location in NYC still has that scent
Such great knowledge in here - especially the parasocial approach companies are taking that have proven successful. I was going to write on which brands are missing the mark with that kind of behavior and the use of ai generated content, whereas some have been successful, like Duolingo. Would love to connect if that’s interesting to you!
So glad you enjoyed this piece!! It’s such an interesting topic, with so many brands finding more invasive/personal ways to connect with potential customers. Feel free to DM me on Substack! Would love to chat
Great read, never heard of Brandy Melville before today though so this was really informative.
Thank you so much! :) Glad you enjoyed it!!
You did an incredible job writing thisss (as always)!!!!!! Loved this Madison!
Thank you so much :)) that means a lot!
Suuuchhh a good piece, wow!! You saved me from watching Brandy Hellville lol.
Thank youuu!!! It was definitely still an interesting watch, the content was just a bit redundant