Product-led branding uses product creativity and innovation to build a brand.

Moon Shoe started Nike, 1460s started Dr.Martens, 501s started Levi’s, Arizona started Birkenstock.

Nike Moon Shoe reference: https://shoezeum.com/

Now-iconic products originally provided a superior innovation - durability, fit, quality, design - to offer something that no other product did (copper rivets on Levi’s 501, air cushioning on Dr Martens, ergonomically shaped sole on Birkenstocks).

They were so good that they were their own advertising.

Instead of convincing people to buy something, product-led branding creates something that people want to use and identify with. It creates products that we are obsessed with.

In product-led branding, brand identity comes from association with products in action: them being used, worn, embellished, customized, repaired, and styled, over the years, by different people and subcultures, in many different ways.

The more wear stories there are, the richer the product narrative.

Product-led branding is selling the wear. This wear is the brand.

In this episode, Rei and Ana will discuss the key aspects of product-led branding:

1. Value: product-led branding works when products have superior functional features, like quality, fit, sizing, comfort and durability
2. Wear: products have been around long enough to accumulate wear stories; product value is delivered and experienced through wear, not promised through advertising.
3. Aesthetics: products are recognizable even without the brand logo. Signifiers include color, patterns, prints, stitching or other design details to encourage organic differentiation
4. Narrative: content (history, archives, worn stories, subcultural links) advances product functionality and aesthetics and provides context for product experience and use
5. Fandom: how to use early fans, community and subcultures for customer acquisition

Each of these aspects will be discussed through the specific examples. We will conclude by summarizing the benefits of product-led branding in today’s retail landscape dominated by online marketplaces.

Reference: https://andjelicaaa.substack.com/p/product-led-branding