A Brandless Brand

I was scrolling through Instagram and was served a sponsored ad put on by Brandless Life. It caught my attention because their hook is that they don’t have a brand. But not having a brand is their brand – being brandless. Every company has a brand; you cannot separate the brand from the company. What Brandless is doing differently is skipping the “fluff” that often comes along with brands. This “fluff,” such as large logos, package designs, and stories, is crucial to other brands, so their conscious choice of not including these things is what catches attention and signals to consumers that it is their product.

There is a current trend of a growing distrust in brands, especially among millennials, Brandless’ target market. This distrust is rooted in people taking a stand against unethical business practices. I have friends who don’t shop at H&M anymore when it was discovered that their labor standards were extremely poor, and others who don’t support Gucci anymore due to the blackface sweater that was released. As a result, young people are scared of what brands they choose to trust. Therefore, this target market of young adults gravitate towards these products that aren’t connected to a brand which Brandless gives them. Another aspect of the target market is their care for quality. Their food products are organic, and have no preservatives nor artificial colors. But their products go farther than food as they make brandless products from beauty care to home supplies.

Their insight is this discovery of the rising distrust in brands. They saw how negative emotions can be connected to brands, so they took the brand as people know it away. The second insight plays into generic vs name brand products. More often than not, consumers will choose the brand name product over a generic option even if the generic option is cheaper. People doubt the quality of the generic brand compared to the name brand they trust. For example, I only use Neutrogena face wash, even though it is placed right next to the CVS brand face wash which is probably just as good. There is also a negative social stigma about using the generic options over the name brand.

Brandless’ objectives were to create a brand so different from any other brand in order to capture this target market, as well as making the generic brand “cool” and higher quality than the name brand products. They successfully did this through their brand positioning. Their products are extremely basic, yet still high in quality and cheap in price. This extends into the products’ design where it is only labeled with what it is, and check marks labeling it as organic, healthy, and brandless signifying its high quality. They use this simplicity to show how they are different than their competitors. Other products use every space of packaging to market the product, but the simplicity of Brandless makes them seem transparent, thus gaining the trust of those who are fearful of name brands. The simplicity is trendy, once again inviting their target market of millennials in. Now, the generic is cool as it gains popularity with their Instagram of 548K followers.

Its biggest strength is that it is different. Brands are so important in the marketing industry to where it seems stupid to others to try to create a company without one. The shock factor of this catches attention and brings people in. However, there are many weaknesses that come with Brandless. With the lack of marketing on the product’s packaging design, it is harder to recognize as a Brandless product. The only place that signifies it is made by Brandless is the last check mark on the front in a small font saying “Brandless.” Another weakness is that Brandless is a web-based store. They note that the shelf-stocking fees, along with many others, force consumers to pay more, so their presence only online saves their customers money. However, their lack of presence in stores will limit the amount of people exposed to their products so many will have no idea this company even exists. Lastly, all the stories and feelings behind what a brand is what keeps customers coming back for more. It builds loyalty and adds to the reason why name brands are so successful. With Brandless trying to limit what consumers see as their brand, they are relying only on their values to inspire customers coming back for more.