Turning Values Into Value
EXPAND YOUR BRAND WITH CORIZONTAL STRATEGY
HIGH TIDE IN HB
In July of 2010, a landmark event took place in Huntington Beach, California. Over 650,000 people came to watch global icons compete in surf, skate, and BMX events at the US Open of Surf. In addition to competition lit by the glow of Golden State sunshine, there were cultural happenings sprawled across 13 acres of beachfront. Weezer played to an audience of 100,000, with crowds stretching hundreds of yards across the sand all the way into the water. Across the street in downtown Huntington Beach, Jack’s Surf Shop retail receipts topped several hundred thousand dollars in softgoods alone. A million people streamed the webcast of the surf competition.
The annual surfing championship had been a highlight in Huntington Beach since 1959; the event had always attracted crowds, some big and some rowdy. But by 2010, the surf competition had become a full-on festival, the kind of youth-driven, hotness-in-the-heart-of-summer that happens when you mix sport, fashion, art, and music into a singular experience. And it was being taken to another level by a new sponsor: Nike.
Scenes like surfing and skateboarding were originated by outsiders and rebels. With 50 years of intertwined history these lifestyle sports shared the same DNA, but were established as separate industries. Another element they had in common: each contained passionate protectors, wary of mainstream meddlers or non-endemic entities. Nike had not been invited to the action sports party. For a massive organization synonymous with running, field and court sports—Nike was watched carefully and critically by many industry insiders and participants. The world’s biggest sports brand got serious about their skate program around 2001 with Nike Skateboarding. As they put in the effort to learn the unwritten rules of outsider lifestyle sports, Converse, Hurley, and mass channel multi-action sport brand Nike 6.0 followed. And after a decade of demonstrating humility and commitment, building the right teams, creating solid product, supporting retailers and respecting the past while embracing the future—the inroads Nike had built put them on the map with their action sports presence.
CORA-WHAT?
The crystallization of this US Open moment on the beach in 2010 was driven by a long term approach we call Corizontal: A strategy of cultivating authenticity, multiplied across core communities, each with their own doorways into adjacent areas of sport and culture. Opening these doors allowed for horizontal growth to reach a larger commercial opportunity. Nike put in the work by embracing the principles and elevating multiple action sport brands, working with the scene-makers within those communities to celebrate the lifestyle across projects small and large. In this case, a premier competition in Surf City, USA. For the core: Lance Mountain was destroying a skate bowl on the beach and waves were firing offshore with the largest pro purse ever up for grabs; but they’d also designed an experience the masses could understand and get stoked on: a boardwalk energized with creative culture, visual energy, attitude and excitement. Exit through the gift shop.
ESTABLISHED BRAND CORIZONTAL BENEFITS
For large brands, Corizontal is a different approach than the typical sponsorship or acquisition marketing model to gain traction with a new culture or community. Instead of being the outsider, temporarily renting a space/sign/event (which can be labeled as shallow), a Corizontal approach emphasizes building a foundation in the bedrock of a scene to gain insights and acceptance from the inside out. Coming from a place of authenticity with the intent to elevate the core earns the brand respect from the right people. By combining this kind of commitment with the reach and resources of a larger organization, cultural relevance ripples across categories and adjacent devoted communities. This diffusion method primes brands to become part of pop culture, driving commercial success while introducing new heroes and ideas to the world.
CHALLENGER BRAND CORIZONTAL BENEFITS
For smaller brands operating within a defined space, Corizontal is a way to grow without losing sight of what’s important to the original audience. Staying true to those roots is the difference between selling out, and creating an army of evangelists who are buying in. Just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean it sucks. This is how bands from the Beatles, to Bob Marley, to the Beastie Boys were able to create music that topped the charts, but still remain respected as artists and innovators. Smaller organizations already have an advantage by being inside the scene; it should be easier for them to express the values and attitude through halo products and messages that are of, by, and for the core. The key is in developing a strategy to deliver inclusive breakthrough projects that celebrate the magic, along with accessible products that appeal to broad, overlapping segments. That “product” might be something as simple as a T-shirt that propels the commercial opportunity forward. A smart brand will reinvest that success back into more innovative, culture-driving support for their core audience, and continue to find projects that bring that essence to the masses.
CONNECTING THE DOTS / HOW TO CREATE CORIZONTAL IDEAS
Corizontal strategy is about creating connection. What ideas and beliefs unite the cult of fans your brand serves? How is that community related to others? And, how will you appeal to the needs and aspirations to those communities by creating linkage across your own brand projects and products? These are the questions at the core of Corizontal. A few ways to start:
1. Go deep before you get broad. People join culture brands because they share a belief in something, and those convictions that drive a lifestyle don’t drop off at a certain age, zip code or income threshold. So focus on the shared mindset, not the demographics. Knowing the aspirations that keep a community committed lets you go deeper than demographics. Look for clues within the building blocks of the scene—organizers and promoters, challenger brands, up and coming contributors, media and influencers. Their attitudes and aspirations will help demystify the “why” that drives the core mindset.
2. To find the scalable areas of opportunity, look for the places where the core is connected to adjacent categories through proximity, distribution, shared heroes, habits and values. The 10 million skateboarders around the world may all be bonded by the same love for skating, but other points of connection include creative endeavors like expressive graphic design, music, sneakers and streetwear, global fashion, and entrepreneurial culture. Not to mention the sporting terrain where skateboarding influences or is influenced by others: snowboarding, surfing, even basketball. Independently each of those scenes have their own strengths, ideas, codes and values, but the overlapping points amongst them are areas of opportunity. This is where to identify elements and find easy points of entry for new fans.
3. Once you know the vales and intent of the scene, and where that community connects and extend—the next challenge is creating an innovative delivery of these ideals. Use elements that are accessible and easy draw people in (humor, passion, bold graphics, great music, celebrities) but also highlight the legit nuances that are important to the core (style, technical innovation, originality). In the digital age, provide snack-sized stories that can be drilled down deeper and explored for the depth. Get awareness and attention beyond the core through innovative delivery (a popup store, a capsule collection, an event), purposefully collaborating with other brands to celebrate the things you share, and hitting the biggest cultural milestones possible (holidays or traditions are good territory to mine).
CORIZONTAL CASE STUDIES
These examples all share a spark of authenticity that began as something special for a core community. By sticking to those values, the brands were able to create a virtuous cycle that brought broad reaching appeal and reinvested that success to keep growing.
SEATTLE’S HOMETOWN HEROES
SUB POP RECORDS
It started with as a zine, a radio show, and a couple of low-run pressings of local music on vinyl. The goal was to share good taste in underground music. It led to a new music genre dubbed grunge. After signing Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Nirvana, and other independent artists of the era, the Sub Pop founders got an infusion of cash. Sub Pop stuck by their grounding philosophies—supporting music discovery and staying ahead of the sonic curve. They made their intern the CEO and have turned on new generations of fans to the Sub Pop sound for 30 years, breaking new alt radio-friendly acts like The Shins, the Postal Service, Father John Misty, and more.
GUILT-FREE, FRESH AND FUN
LUSH
Born in beauty with an iron-willed support of animal rights, Lush Cosmetics stood out because of their stance against animal testing. They also used fresh ingredients and mixed, mashed, and handcrafted their innovative cosmetics and bath products in their original shop. This idea caught on with an investor, who saw the potential to scale the brand around the world. Hundreds of stores later, the same engaging use of colorful, fresh ingredients and playful products made consciously are still staple ingredients in this billion dollar brand.
TURBOCHARGED EXCITEMENT
GYMKHANA SERIES
Snowboarder / DC Shoes co-founder Ken Block grew bored of running a successful action sports brand and was ready to take his career down a new road. He got interested in rally car racing and drifting. Ken took ques from his action sports background and brought them to motorsports: Notably, the graphics and aesthetics splashed across the livery on his vehicles, and his creative skate and snowboarding video know-how. The results became the modern day infomercial: his Gymkhana series of videos. Each video in the series is filmed with outrageous driving in different global cites, with innovative production techniques and music, various cameos from famous friends. This creative approach has racked up over 550 million views, and each video helped drive sales of Ken’s capsule collections of apparel and footwear.
GRAFFITI GOES HIGH BROW
ART IN THE STREETS, BEYOND THE STREETS
Journalist and curator Roger Gastman covered the culture of graffiti and street art at, well, the street level. After building relationships with the underground through publishing, he brought the world a groundbreaking installation show called Art In The Streets at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. With 60 artists participating, it was the biggest collective of street art ever. It also shattered attendance records at the MOCA. Graffiti and street art had been part of public consciousness and the art world for decades, but no one had presented it in an experiential, installation-heavy group show like Gastman. A follow-up series, Beyond the Streets, also brought participation from expressive rebels who started the scene, and those who carried their success beyond the streets (Haze, Futura, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, and more). Beyond shows on both coasts also had highly successful runs, featuring massive immersive displays and artifacts, and an array of merchandise.
THE BILLION DOLLAR FART JOKE
JACKASS
The defining elements for ‘90s-era skateboard magazine Big Brother were a combination of ripping, provoking, and joking. The crew behind the magazine pitched their brand of fun as a video concept, and landed a deal with media powerhouse Viacom to create the MTV show and film series, Jackass. Nobody thought it would succeed like it did. But the broad-reaching secret sauce: a spirit of camaraderie. The crew of charismatic misfits including pro skaters, snowboarders, and BMX’ers who take turns pranking each other out all work together as a dysfunctional family of brothers. The physical comedy and stunts set to classic punk rock also translated easily around the world. There was no storyline, just a stream of straightforward setups for short bits, and somebody takes a hit to the groin from a football. This simple format for funny set box office records and powered a series of projects, spinoffs, and documentaries, each with its own raw charms and shared crew and cast.
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Written by Mark Lewman, Executive Creative Director and Partner at Nemo Design
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