4 Halo Brand Hacks from Nike and Seedlip To Drive Insane Brand Awareness + Authority on a Tiny Budget

3 Halo Effect Brand Hacks To Drive Insane Brand Awareness and Authority on a Budget

When he said “it”. I spat out my food and said “FUCKIIIING- F-UUUUUCK OFF MATE !!!!!!”

Who knew Michelin star restaurants and Nike trainers could teach us so much about brand building?

Shhhhhhh, we’ll get there shortly, my friend.
You impatient little shit.
But, first, pleaseeeee, pretty-please, we must go back to the start.

I woke up (good start)
Opened the windows (optional)

A boundless crisp blue sky enveloped the globe like a freshly ironed linen shirt over a cricket ball. A glowing happy sunshine danced in the sky like a happy toddler.

I did my two step morning routine:

BREATH WORK

3 ciggies b2b Elf Bar b2b Lost Mary

Get the lungs nice and fired up (quite literally)

#JustGetItF*ckingDoneBRO
#OkayI’mNotJokingBRO
#OkayI’mLiterallyNOTJokingOkayBRO

HOT SHOWER

extra hot with lots of soapy goodness from Raddox - he he h he he hehe he he SO  tingly”.

Podcast.

The Unruly Pig.
Voted the best pub in UK.

Suffolk.

Where people escape Canary Wharf. The moody-malaise slaughtered. A Wharf of Wandering Dreams. Dreams bobbin like newborn motherless Canary’s in thrashing storms.metropolis. Everyone spaffed on with stress. Steaming like angry kettles about to burnout-bubble over.

I hurtled out Canary Wharf - - f-ur-ther- fu- rth her fur- ther.

Roaring through the countryside, metropolis melting into country air.

I was listening to a podcast about NIKE (yes, you impatient little shit, we’ll get back to that in a sec)

The Unruly Pig:: a maze of wonder. Escape the muddy mundane waters ::: ::: enter ::: :: carousel of curiosity.

Your eyes are rays of wonder jolted - —- ——- - —- out their sockets like - —- ——- - —- highlighter pink race hounds with hot mustard yellow eyes. Next, you’re smothered in a big hug of ART.

Brendan the owner. Bon Vivant. warm. affable. a big hug of a human, a Gentleman and a gentle man. Rioja kissed rosey cheeks garrison garrulous stories. Ready to unleash any minute.

The Unruly Pig Food is “Britalian”. British ingredients. Italian Influence.

Over a 5 hour, languid long “Britalian” luncheon we chatted. A space invasion of spell-binding dishes landed in front of my drooling-like-a-dawg-gob. Little Gastronomic Space Ships from Planet Britalia.

Britaaaaliaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Darling
Delisssimooo, John.
Ma Maaaaaaa Mia, Mick.

Shell Fish Spag Bol. Cuttle fish mince. Big slices of pungent Parmesan shards wedged in the black muddy grey swamp like bolts of lightening. Thunder & Lightning on a Plate. Thunderous Flavour, Lighting up my taste buds like Manhattan toy shops at Christmas.

Hocus-pocus and Hodge-podge of Yum splattering my mind like a bunch of skittles being boshed down by a Boisterous Gastronomic Bowling Balls.

Our conversation spilled-tangled- soared across the conversation desert like a wild cowboys hunting apache.

Then Brendan said it

And, that’s when I spat out my food and said “FUCK- IN -G F-UCK OFF MATE !!!!!!”

Suddenly, it all clicked into place.

Brendan, as he wiped his napkin on his plate

“Well… my theory is… Michelin star restaurants….don’t make ANY..bloody money … that’s why all chefs want to open a pub or a bistro… yes… yes… a…Michelin star in Knightsbridge… literally last week…ye… just shut down, because they can’t make any money!!!!”

Cornerstone, Hackney - one of my fave restaurants - a Michelin Star - by one of my favourite chefs Tom Brown - just announced it’s closing down.

Chefs don’t make money out of Michelin star restaurants because covers are small + costs + ingredients + staff are expensive.

How do chefs make money then?

The Halo Effect for Restaurants

Gordon Ramsay has 3* Michelin Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea. That’s a Halo Effect. Gordon actually makes his money on Gordon Ramsay Pizza, Gordon Ramsay Burger (high volume + high margin).

Adam Handling’s Michelin star restaurant FROG in Soho. That’s a Halo Effect, too. Adam makes money on pubs The Loch and The Tyne + private dining events (high volume + high margin).

Paul Ainsworth No. 6, Padstow is the Michelin star. The Halo Effect. The Mariners and restaurant Cafe Rojano - that’s where Paul makes his money. (high volume + high margin).

The Halo Effect works for Nike too

Nike Limited Edition Sneakers

from podcast:

“Nike sells these incredibly limited edition, retro, and otherwise sneakers, but they sell them for $150, $200, maybe $300, not a lot of money. The instant that they get purchased, you can turn around and sell them on the secondary market for $5000, some of these shoes, $10,000, maybe more. That is a very intentional decision by Nike not to capture that value.

I think the reason they do it is to make all of this work, to make the dream work in a way that is applicable to everybody on the planet and not just Louis Vuitton's market, is they have to keep it attainable. They're willing to let that to $6 billion or whatever, go to secondary players, go to StockX, in order to keep the dream alive.”

Nike don’t make money on limited edition sneakers. But it keeps the dream alive. Increases the brand value and brand perception. They make money on all other trainers and active wear = high volume/high margin.

Michelin Star Chefs don’t make much money on the Michelin restaurant. But it keeps the dream alive. Increases the brand value and brand perception. They make all their money on pubs, bistros, burger joints = high volume/high margin.

The Halo Effect is Essential for Challenger Brands - here’s 3 hacks

1. 1 %Distribution Halo Effect:

This is obvious, but still, the amount of basic berks who see Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols as a waste of time.

“Bloody ell mate, no margin or volume in it… we best get on the blower to Bidfood for ASDA”

Yes, you doughnut, of course, the volume and margin is FUCK ALL in Harrods, Selfridges, SOHO House, Annabelle's.

But, the Halo Effect is HUGE.

1. The status of these accounts = improves brand positioning

2. The early adopters are going to these places to find new things and brands

3. The power of “cool” (hate that word) spreads like wildfire

   Limited Edition Halo Effect:

Another hack to:

1. create hype

2. create intrigue

3. drive sales to the core range

1. Limited edition SKU’s = Endless free PR
   

2. Limited edition SKU’s = unlock distribution you’d normally not get. Wangling exclusive NPD in front of a retailer is like wagging a stolen Rolex in front of a Gypsy in Staines.
   

3. Limited Edition = drives sales to the core range + it brings NEW customers in.

Love this limited edition BOTIVO just bought out.

3. Collaboration Halo Effect

Brand collaboration = Piss Easy Halo Effect.

1. Leverage each others brand audience

2. Bring new “like minded” shoppers into each brand

3. Create hype

***The power play nuance (God, that sounds heinously YankyWanky….I’m not even wearing my Sketchers and a Baseball cap)

How to 10x the partnership hack?

Small cool brand partners with big incumbents brand.

big incumbents get the “cool” to stay relevant
small brands get the “big” to drive awareness.

TRIP’s partnership with meditation app Calm is a genius.

Calm get “cool”
Trip get “big”.

Global /Local 1000 true fans Halo Principle

“Nike announced a few years ago that their whole marketing strategy was going to be reoriented around, I think, 12 cities in the world. They were going to focus everything they did from a marketing standpoint on thinking about what it would mean to be interesting in those cities.”

“What's behind that? The cities are New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio, Paris, et cetera. I think what's behind that is, Nike needs to be accessible to the tastemakers in those cities, and that doesn't mean wealthy people. That means people on the streets, that means young people. That means people who can't afford $5000 items but want to be participating in the pinnacle of Nike.”

How crazy is that?

Nike. One of the BIGGEST BRANDS IN THE WORLD FOCUSES on 12 cities to build their global brand.

Nike know the power of the 1000 true fans. The 1000 high status, aspirational, trend setting people in the right places. Your 1000 early adopters, in 12 cosmopolitan cities, that’s how great GLOBAL ideas spread.

Like NIKE, ask yourself:

“What it would mean to be interesting in those cities?.”
“How are we accessible to the tastemakers?”

Ben Branson built global brand Seedlip and pioneered Lo & No Movement on the same principle as NIKE.

Common challenger brand thinking: let’s build the brand in London, then hit Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham (this is not wrong btw)

Ben’s thinking: Let’s build Seedlip into a global brand in 3 years and spread the idea of Lo & No - back then this seemed IMPOSSIBLE.

Like Nike, Seedlip, Ben asked the hard questions

1. where are the first 1000 “Taste makers” who “get it”?

2. what 12 cities do we need to be in to access those “Taste makers”?

3. what are the top 1% cocktail bars, retail spots, festivals, events that these “Taste makers go to”?

4. how do we get these “taste makers” to spread the idea:

Ben launched Seedlip in the “right cities” to the “right people”.

Check out the latest podcasts with Ben Branson (ohhhhh and please subscribe to the Youtube channel - we’re so bloody close to 1000 subscribers)

part 1 - Ben interviewing me part 2

Get listed. Stay listed. Grow - North Start are gunna change your life

North Star. Get listed. Stay listed. And Grow.

Struggling to get your mitts on bloody expensive data?
Struggling to get get your pitches to really speak “buyer” language?Struggling to actually analyse the data - lost in the Excel vortex?

Soooooo excited to announce our brand new podcast partner North Star.

North Star is a monthly subscription to an online platform giving you access to category data. Anytime. Anyplace. Anywhere.

It’s the Netflix for Data.
Get listed. Stay Listed. And Grow.

ABSOLUTELY BANGING brands use North Star like  Bold Bean Co., PerfectTed, Homethings, Neat, Trip and Cheeky Panda.

Anddddd, the even better news?
North Star offers a Fractional-Category Manager service (this is so SICK)

Fly in one of their amazing category managers in time for big range reviews, without paying full whack for a full time category manager.

Check them out here. Thank me later.

Feel free to email Huw or Keiran (they’re both legends) for a demo.

Still Hungry? Course you are…

Please feel free to gorge on the most downloaded podcast episodes of all time (these are CERTY: BANGERS)

1. Rory Sutherland: Why Challenger Brands Must Never Follow Logic to Truly Disrupt Categories 

2. Waitrose CEO: How Challenger Food & Drink Brands Can Win and Build Profitable Partnerships with Waitrose - James Baile

3. Spencer Matthews: How Spencer Matthews Built Unshakeable Resilience and Raised + £10m to Launch Clean Co. in Sainsbury's, Tesco and the U.S.A. 

4. How Grenade Exited to Mondelez for £200 Million and Lessons in Unapologetic Authenticity- Juliett Baratt

5. Tyrells Tycoon: How William Chase built and sold Tyrells for £50 million and sold Chase Distillery to DIAGEO 

Or read our most read articles of all time

1. Quick quick - we must escape the Middle

2. You moron you let the disease infect your mind

3. do you like bad sex?

4. raving in Ibiza taught me six brand building lessons