Learn about our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts here.

CONNECTING BRANDS TO CULTURE

Spectrum’s portfolio of leading consumer brands, provides a unique perspective into ecommerce and personalization trends, showing engagement trends between a brand’s top products and its most dedicated fanbase. Insights gleaned demonstrate why product customization successfully drives ROI.

But beyond its financial impact, product customization provides substantial benefits that can multiply a brand’s investment: 

  • More dynamic marketing opportunities that speak directly to your top brand fanatics
  • Additional inventory control and optimization opportunities
  • Opportunity to align your brand with culture in an extremely unique and engaging way

Previous posts demonstrated how and why customized products will be increasingly featured in marketing, and how they can provide unique inventory control opportunities. This post will focus on how product customization allows brands to tap into culture like never before. 

Many consumer brands spend significant amounts of their marketing budget tapping into cultural events and trends relevant to their audiences. However, very few of these achieve brand alignment in a way that feels genuine. At best, they are a temporary lift should it capture the audience’s attention. At worst, they can be perceived as disingenuous by their most loyal audiences. Brands that find strategic ways to connect their products to culture can create more impactful and relevant relationships with consumers.

CULTURAL IMPACT

  • Forward-thinking companies can align their brands and products to support important cultural topics that are meaningful to their audiences, further strengthening the relationship with their enthusiasts.
  • Unique cross-promotions can help brands offer unique and limited product collaborations to spur incremental sales and generate buzz among two brand audiences.
In launching their new XBox DesignLab, Xbox offered one customization option featuring a design with 34 different community flags in a fine, interwoven manner to celebrate the nuance, complexity, intersectionality, and strength of the many LGBTQIA+ communities.
Gerber Gear and Fender Guitars teamed up with a partnership featuring country star Tim Montana and world famous tattoo artist Luke Wessman that featured custom-built Gerber knives and a Fender telecaster with original art, growing the audiences of both brands. 

EMBRACING FOMO

  • Whether capitalizing on blue-chip spokespersons or aligning with niche influencers, the flexibility of product customization gives brands additional chances to nimbly adapt their product lines by providing influencer-designed assets for co-creation opportunities. 
  • Strategically capitalizing on seasonal promotional opportunities can be a struggle for many brands. Product customization allows brands to pair time-sensitive art/photos/designs to stock SKUs.
Astro collaborated with Vince Staples to develop the Vince Staples ASTRO.ID A40 TR Headset. Designed and dreamed by the artist, and fueled by Spectrum’s 3D product customization platform.
Chapstick offers limited time and seasonal artwork and designs for product customizations applied to their stock SKUs. 

With built-in flexibility, product customizers offer brands an excellent and effective way to tap into culture in unique ways. Nimbleness in adding unique designs, patterns or partnerships can provide brands with great opportunities to culturally align their products and audiences in completely new and unique ways.