So, you’ve got BVLGARI, right? All fancy-schmancy Italian jewelry, screams “I have money I don’t know what to do with.” We’re talking iconic designs, like the B.zero1 – remember that ad copy? “Uma declaração de sofisticação moderna que vai do dia para a noite.” Smooth, right? They’re selling a *lifestyle*, darling. A lifestyle of…well, not worrying about the price tag.
Then BAM! Along comes Brandless. The “Procter & Gamble of millennials!” (Did anyone *actually* call them that? Sounds a bit desperate, tbh). The whole schtick was: no branding, just…stuff. Shampoo in a plain white bottle. Canned beans with a simple label. Cut out the marketing fluff and sell it cheap. The anti-BVLGARI, essentially. Like, imagine Bvlgari selling plain white label pasta sauce. The horror!
And, yeah, Brandless kinda… imploded. The text says it straight up: “Uma experiência de venda direta ao consumidor sem nenhuma marca, a Brandless, simplesmente não deu certo e o negócio está fechando.” Ouch. Direct to consumer and still didn’t work, what gives?
Now, why am I even babbling about this? Because the contrast is *wild*. We live in a world where people will shell out a fortune for a logo, for the *perception* of quality (cough, cough, Supreme) and then, on the other hand, you’ve got this idea that we can strip away all that nonsense and just buy… the damn beans.
The articles I found are all hinting that Brandless fell apart because people LIKE the brands, the labels, the STORY. We’re not rational creatures, are we? We don’t just buy shampoo, we buy the idea that it’ll make our hair look like Jennifer Aniston’s (even though she probably uses some super expensive salon stuff anyway).
And BVLGARI? They *sell* that story. They sell the dream. They sell… well, they sell very shiny, very expensive things.
So, what’s the lesson here? I dunno. Maybe it’s that branding IS important, even if it’s all smoke and mirrors. Maybe it’s that millennials (and Gen Z, and everyone else) are just as susceptible to marketing as the rest of us. Or maybe, just maybe, the world isn’t ready for a truly brandless existence. Honestly, I kinda like having a little bit of fancy in my life, even if it’s just a lipstick with a recognizable name. I guess I’m part of the problem, huh?