The Responsibility Of Lifestyle Brands
How to be a better lifestyle brand
I think it’s a fair assumption that many brands, their products and and services, and their stake holders – want to be a lifestyle brand. We’ve seen phones, cameras and other technologies move out of the tech space and into the ‘lifestyle’ space.
But at what cost?
Well, maybe little to them – providing a new context in which their brand/product/service creates a day-to-day routine with their user. Phones are probably the best example of this. But there’s a really important lesson to be learnt:
If you’re a lifestyle brand, you have a lifestyle responsibility.
And that’s a really big responsibility. Your responsibility for being a part of my LIFE.
What this means is if you’re going to be an integral part of someone’s life: don’t mess it up. If you’re product has built in obseletion, if it is not customer centric, if it’s just a crappy product – then you’re going to let your customer down, over and over again.
Think about the rage you get when your computer, phone, watch, GPS, batteries, USB, PDA, internet, 3G, WiFi, memory card, hard drive, TV, Pay-TV, Online Video, Website, Mobile App, Twitter, Faceboo, ISP,
FAILS
THINK ABOUT THE PART OF YOU THAT WANTS TO BREAK YOUR NEW IPHONE INTO TINY LITTLES PIECES AND SMASH THOSE SHARDS OF GLASS INTO THE FACE OF WHATEVER IS COMING BETWEEN YOU AND TWITTER!!!111
Take a breath. Okay, 3G came back on.
Now. If you’re an agency or a brand. Or someone trying to support someone’s lifestyle. Think about the lifestyle responsibility you owe them by doing so.
3 Comments
This is why Apple is so awesome. They’ve perfected the blend of technology and lifestyle better than anyother company on the planet.
And do you think they consistently service that lifestyle over and over again? I’m always in two minds about ol’ Apple. There devices seem to die, right on time. But I’m always keen to get another.
I’m with Jye on having two minds about Apple.
Apple used to have awesome build quality with no apparent built in obseletion. I think their build quality has decreased with their increased market presence. It’s just that their products still seem *more* reliable than their competitors.
Also, Jye are you also keen to replace your faulty Apple product just because it’s cheap enough to do so? People don’t think twice about a faulty iPod Shuffle for example, because it’s so convenient and cheap to replace.