Pick Your T-Shirt
In our teenage years we all experiment with the way we look. It’s such an important time to be cool. A haircut here, a piercing there, a tattoo or a t-shirt, depending on how much conviction you have in the enduring appeal of your latest favourite band. Nirvana, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones. All absolute stalwarts in the band t-shirt arena. And all, at one time or another, useful shortcuts to looking vaguely cool.
The real beauty of a band t-shirt, though, is how quickly you can change your outfit to fit the zeitgeist. Monday it’s Taylor Swift, Tuesday it’s Oasis.
Trends come and go. One minute we’re planking and wearing Livestrong wristbands, the next we’re back in mullets. We’re all guilty of following sometimes. But that doesn’t mean our brands should be bending with the wind.
Unlike us mere mortals, strong brands take a pretty permanent position. Something a bit more committed than a quick tee change. Something immune to fads and fashion.
When we think Harley Davidson, we think freedom. Think Disney, think magic. Volvo, safety. These emotional shortcuts have been painstakingly built over decades. Of course there are always new ways to interpret, and activate, ideas like safety, magic and freedom.
In 2018 a bill was passed in Ontario which granted Sikh men exemption from wearing motorcycle helmets. For the first time they’d be able to wear their turbans while riding their motorbikes. But this new-found freedom gave them a tough choice. What do you value more: your religious freedom or your personal safety?
Enter Harley Davidson – the brand built on freedom.
Harley created the Tough Turban, an innovative new turban made of impact-resistant materials, that still fully adhered to the requirements of the Sikh faith. It was completely new territory for the brand but it stuck true to everything they’d worked so hard to represent. No turncoat, t-shirt changes here. Just good old fashioned hard work and commitment to a single idea.
Strong brands don’t switch what they care about.
So, by all means, be as fickle as you like with your band tees. But when it comes to your brand, please: find your thing and stick with it.
Who The LR We?
StudioLR is the creative agency that believes in guts. We’ve been grabbing people’s insides and making them interesting since 2004. If you liked this blog, you might like this one which talks about the depths you have to delve, to find the guts of your brand.
