What Can't Be Replicated
A brand whose competitive advantage isn't a strategy, it's an ethos. A way of thinking, noticing, and holding oneself in the world.
Keeping this one here because there's something in it that sparked my interest and I haven't quite placed yet, on ethos, design, and what it means to build something that can't be replicated.
Aesop stores have always been a draw for me.
The minimalism, the concrete, the arches, the simplicity. Beautiful. But their products aside, it's the stores that pull me in, they are beautifully designed.
This article helped me understand why the brand works at a deeper level.
As Tamara aptly states
... while most brands in body care compete on function, what the product does, delivers, or signals, Aesop competes on ethos: a way of thinking, noticing, and holding oneself in the world.
There is a lot in here on branding, design, and how a philosophy, not a product, becomes a competitive advantage.
Article: How Aesop Turned Intellectual Rigour into a Brand, The Brandsider