Defining Culture, Subculture & Counterculture
Part 1 of my GTM playbook.
This Part 1 of my 6-part GTM Playbook. Over the next several weeks, I’ll share my process for developing culturally relevant go to market strategies. I’ll give everyone a teaser but I’ll put the best parts behind the paywall. Today, I cover a few of the brands defining subcultures, the allure of countercultures, and 12 questions to answer if you’re building a cultural strategy.
If brand strategy defines the product-market fit, then go to market strategy defines the product-culture fit.
While there’s quite a bit of cultural analysis embedded into my brand strategy process, a deeper dive is warranted at the go to market phase. Why? Because culture is always changing. While the foundation of your brand strategy should be largely static, the ways in which your brand engages with culture will be dynamic and responsive. Therefore, the cultural strategy should be crafted as close to launch as reasonable.
Before we get into best practices for defining a cultural strategy, let’s define what I mean by culture.
Culture is recognized by clusters of shared behavior, including rituals, traditions, values, beliefs, standards, aesthetics, fashion, styles, and trends. There’s really no part of our lives that transcend culture. Culture makes up the human experience. The only question is which aspects of culture we identify with.
While this has been hotly debated, I do not believe that brands create culture in and of themselves. People create culture. Brands tap into cultural moments, movements and trends to reflect and transfer them into economic value. In this way, brands can influence and amplify culture, but they do not create culture from scratch.
Mainstream Culture: What’s Hot Now
What is playing out on the world stage is considered “mainstream culture”. It is experienced as politics, entertainment, social narratives and norms; what’s trending on Netflix and Spotify; headlines, ads and trending social content; best-selling products and star-studded brand collaborations. It’s ‘what’s hot now’.
We’re all guilty of getting caught up in the energy and momentum of a huge cultural moment, and as brand builders and marketers, we’re always anticipating them. We stay vigilant and nimble so that we can respond swiftly and strategically to catch the wave, integrating our brand into the cultural discourse of the day. This creates connections that consumers feel are relevant to their lives.
As consumers, mainstream culture is highly influential in shaping how we think and what to think, how we feel and what to feel, how we consume and what we consume. It influences who we follow and who we emulate. From our style to our slang, we're influenced by these mainstream cultural forces more than we care to admit.
Successful brands are part of this ecosystem; think of them as cultural force multipliers.
Just look at how Ozempic has influenced not just the weight loss industry, but wellness culture.
Or how SKIMS has not just influenced the shapewear category, but has amplified the cultural movement of body inclusivity and positivity.
Rare Beauty isn’t just a celebrity beauty brand. It’s a platform that advocates for mental and emotional health, tapping into a broader social issue that is disproportionally affecting teens and young adults.
And there are so many more: e.l.f Cosmetics has democratized beauty by making best-selling dupes at affordable prices. This hasn’t just impacted the beauty industry, it’s normalized dupe culture for an entire generation.
The O.G. of UGC, Glossier didn’t just inspire normal girls to post their dewy skin and bushy brows on IG. The brand built a culture around community, providing a framework for all DTC brands that followed.
From Sephora to Stanley to Sambas to Sol de Janeiro, successful brands authentically embed into broad cultural narratives, appealing to customers’ values and primal desires.