Bow Down to Beyoncé's Brand Universe
What brand builders can learn from Cowboy Carter
Americana is trending. From the runway to ready-to-wear to award-winning TV, cowboy culture has become cool.
So when Beyoncé dropped Cowboy Carter last Friday night, fans and critics were quick to respond. Most commentary focused on Beyoncé’s genre jump from pop to country in what some say is a perfectly timed transition that highlights her artistic range and expands her audience reach.
But to suggest that Beyoncé is following culture rather than creating culture is a miscalculation. When we widen the aperture, we see that Cowboy Carter has been in the making for nearly a decade, with narrative threads and themes that are embedded in Beyoncé’s DNA (literally and creatively.)
For brand builders, there are many lessons to be learned about how to build a brand with soul and execute a go to market strategy that doesn’t just mark a cultural moment but demands a cultural reckoning and alters the course of culture moving forward.
It Ain’t Country
First, …