I got to thinking about the nature of small brands, and the particular problems they face getting over the hump from being perceived of as a niche brand to becoming, you know, A Brand.  This has been on my mind lately for a few reasons, but largely because of my ongoing project with Sam Benjamin, the author.  Our goal here is to establish Sam as an author, sell some books, and get him paid to do what he does best – create hilarious, self-deprecating content.  “Bringing the Real,” as a mutual friend of ours would say.

So, I got to thinking about small brands with passionate followings.  Two of my personal favorites are Troy Lee Designs and Ghostly International.

TLD got its start in a pretty humble place – its founder, the irrepressible Troy Lee, started painting his friends’ motocross helmets.  25 years later, TLD is a full fledged “lifestyle brand”, with an extensive motocross safety equipment and apparel business, a kickass little casualwear business, a seriously good paint business and two full-on, factory-supported race teams.  To say that TLD has a “paint business” is a misnomer – TLD designs and paints custom helmets for just about any racer worth talking about in the US (from exteme sports legend Shaun Palmer to Dario Franchitti), and they’ve done a ton of custom design work for companies as varied as Range Rover, Mazda, Honda and Kicker Audio.  TLD’s got a really robust little following in the motocross world, but they’re dwarfed by the far more corporate brands in MX like Fox Racing or Thor, and especially companies like Monster Energy or Rockstar.

On the surface, TLD has very little in common with Monster Energy.  TLD paints and sells safety gear and apparel; Monster Energy sells beverages.  Dig deeper though, and you start to see that kids everywhere are wearing Monster hats and shirts, their cars and trucks are covered in Monster Army stickers – that green “M” is omnipresent.  So in some sense, TLD and Monster compete – crucially, for mindshare, I’d argue.  TLD is the self-described Switzerland of their space – they’ll work with anyone (even their competitors) and not pick sides, but I say they risk being dwarfed by other, louder brands.

Ghostly International is a record label, first and foremost, but like any record label, they have auxiliary businesses which pay the bills.  Perhaps Ghostly’s biggest asset (apart from its amazing roster of artists – Dabrye, School of Seven Bells, Tycho) is its fanbase.  I’m lumping myself in this group, I suppose, but their fans tend to be a bit older, educated, creative.  They’re smart, they’re passionate, and they’re social.  Discerning would probably be a good word to describe them.  Because Ghostly doesn’t have a seriously pop sensibility, and without a true all-star name signed to their label (see: Aphex Twin or Jamie Lidell at WARP), they’re a tad anonymous.

Ghostly’s auxiliary businesses are where the future’s at – providing other creative services that leverage their abilities to produce their own ‘art and artifice’ so well.  Event curation, brand / package / collateral / web design – they’ve got a whole ton of tricks up their sleeve.

So, the question is, how do small brands (with passionate followings) grow?

1) First and foremost, never ever ever lose the authenticity.  Like Dave Chappelle said, “keep it real, Son!” What got you acclaim and some love in the first place is what you should always maintain.  Even a mega-brand like Oakley keeps it real.  Another mega-mega-brand that definitely keeps it real is Virgin.  Seriously, whether it’s their music label or their low-cost airline in the US, Virgin does everything with a very particular attitude.  Else, you run the risk of overextending yourself – Ferrari and Kanye West have this in common, in my opinion.  Ferrari and Kanye West both have a ton more money than me, of course, but it’s the spirit with which you do things that keeps that authenticity around.

2) Spend your money creatively. It’s a terrible trap to fall into to say “I’ll do some marketing when sales pick up.” Sorry, but you’ve gotta spend some in advertising or promotions.  You don’t have to succumb to the 12x print magazine buy though, or feel that you have to spend to match your competition’s ads.  Wanna know a great way to spend, promotionally?  Get to know Jake. Jake is the new logo / mascot for Corvette Racing, and he’s brilliant.  Jake is successful viral marketing personified – no SuperBowl ad or frivolous golf tournament sponsorship required.  Relative to the return in terms of brand association and a rallying-point for Corvette owners, the cost of Jake’s creation was a pittance for GM.

3) Engage your network. Like, REALLY engage them.  In Sam Benjamin’s case, he’s got a huge network of interesting and well-connected people, many of whom really believe in him growing and succeeding as an author.  For Ghostly, there’s “true believers” all over – give your true believers a reason to get involved, and let them feel that they can make an individual contribution to the goal.  Engagement means asking for personal favors, asking for specific tasks to be completed, i.e., “Will you introduce me to so-and-so?” or “Will you review our product publicly?”

4) Foster your followers’ weirdness and passion.  The best two examples I can think of in this case are Nine Inch Nails’ use of collaboration and an open-source spirit to engage their fans obsessions, and the phenomenon known as LebowskiFest.

Trent Reznor has a thoroughly-cataloged hatred of the industry label system, and he’s been on the forefront of interaction with his passionate fans.  He took the whole Grateful Dead bootleg model and turned it on its head – note his fan remix project. The guy actually gives away his music, lets people chop and screw it however they want, and guess what?  He’s more popular now than he’s ever been, and making more money from his tours than ever.  Dude’s brilliant, but more to the point, he had the balls to give up control of his product.  That’s laudable.

In the case of LebowskiFest, what started off as a quirky, nerdy fan-fest for the ardent followers of the film The Big Lebowski (admittedly the single greatest film ever) has turned into an actual community, a business, and – dare I say? – a happening.  If you’ve got the beginnings of a cult forming around you or your brand, LET THEM BE WEIRD ABOUT IT. It’s good for you, in the long run. Don’t scare passionate people off. They’re good for you.  Unless they’re stalkers, or are malicious.  In that case, by all means, alert the proper authorities.