2023: Tramp’s Top 10 Consumer Brands
Happy New Year—let’s look back before we forge ahead into Q1 to see what was a hit (and what missed) in 2023. It was a challenging year for many: rising interest rates, recession fears, and brands frozen in place, waiting for a signal to spend. Here’s our short list of winners from the past 12 months. Some will certainly be familiar—see if you agree!
1. Stanley
The Notice Your Stanleyness campaign of 2019 could not have predicted the meteoric rise of the Stanley Tumbler. The evolution of a blue-collar thermos to a suburban staple in homes and SUVs everywhere is the brand example that tops our list.
How did Stanley vault past other established vessels like YETI and Hydroflask? They started with a solid product: Stanley added a few design embellishments (handles, tapered base) and then released limited color options to manufacture demand from consumers. The right mix of influencer endorsements and celeb sightings primed people to buy.
2. HOKA
Do these soles look fat to you? HOKA reported a 90% growth in sales, year-over-year and have cracked the arch support / joint pain problem while also breaking into the fashion industry. Targeting beyond the running set, HOKAS were being recommended by medical professionals for their comfort and support. Word of mouth moved the needle enough for consumers to consider something different. Next for HOKA: Kid’s sizes.
3. Jenna Ortega
Yes, Barbie put blondes back in the spotlight this summer, but Jenna Ortega’s dark star is also on the rise. Emerging from her Disney origins and CW sitcoms, Ortega has made a name for herself in Hollywood. Her roles in the Scream franchise set the stage for a star turn in Netflix’s Wednesday, and she’ll appear alongside Winona Rider and Michael Keaton in the 2024 sequel to Beetlejuice. Weird is good.
4. Tourism
Over 55 million Americans traveled this Thanksgiving holiday. That number is back up over pre-pandemic levels, even if airline staffing has not grown at a commensurate rate. After years of quarantining and social distancing, the public is itching to get out there—visit a National Park, take in a Broadway show, dip a toe in the ocean. The contest for destinations is back…how will yours stand out?
5. TikTok
Despite congressional threats of a national ban, TikTok continues its steady crescendo of growth—projecting 15% increases in audience annually. TikTok’s tie-in to the music industry, trend-based content cycles and (still) teenage demo guarantees relevancy, which might explain the following statistic: Americans 10 and over are estimated to spend 55.8 minutes a day on the app.
Turning discovery into a purchase opportunity, the TikTok shop allows creators to use a fully-integrated e-commerce platform to advance their business. Users can partner or promote products to earn commissions, or make direct sales. Meme-worthy advances in consumer culture.
6. Sea Bags
Every beach babe needs a killer tote to stow, well, everything. Our favorites are Sea Bags, based in Maine, but available in a port near you. These oversize carriers are made from recycled sail material. Durable, responsible, and stylish. Sea Bags just announced a partnership with the NFL to make custom items for your favorite team. Yardarm meets gridiron.
7. Miller Lite
The Bud Light controversy that sprung from a singular mention by Dylan Mulvaney made Molson Coors, parent company of Miller Brewing, ironically, the King of Beers. Sales of Coors Light and Miller Light surpassed Bud Light by 50% in the second quarter, and outpaced the #2 selling beer: Modelo Especial by 30%. Sales increased 11.8% and their revenue was up $47 million from the same period a year ago.
8. Messi
Major League Soccer got a shot in the arm when Argentinian Lionel Messi signed on to play with MLS club Inter Miami. Messi leads the top-selling Adidas MLS jerseys sold on the league’s website. Draper and Smith of the NY Times proclaimed Messi’s pink #10 jersey to be “the hottest piece of sports merchandise on the planet.”
9. Chat GPT
Cannot believe this is on here. Dry copy, emotionless prose, correct-yet-somehow-suspicious anecdotes, stitched together by a robot. Still, Chat GPT and its visual cousin MidJourney are all our industry wants to talk about. The dismissal of CEO Sam Altman, and the almost immediate reversal of that decision—complete with a board restructure, certainly implies that the robots might already be in charge.
The one redeeming quality here is that MidJourney clearly has trouble drawing hands—just like the rest of us.
10. Taylor Swift
Breaking box office records with the Eras tour, Taylor crossed into billionaire territory, then filmed herself doing it, and released a docu-banger in theaters. As if that wasn’t enough, she tapped into the NFL market by elevating little-known [wink] Tight End, Travis Kelce to famous-significant-other status.
The successful brand conversation must include Swift (and Beyoncé who took turns breaking Taylor’s attendance records). There seems to be a lot of speculation and criticism of these particular brands, maybe because they’re humans? It all looks like a lot of carefully planned hard work to us.
….and, where there are winners, there are certainly losers. We won’t spend a lot of time on these apart from being a cautionary tale. Here’s a short list of those whose brand has been damaged or challenged by bad strategy, poor timing, and hubris.
1. Twitter
Too political to wade into, let’s call it by the numbers: Purchased for $44 billion in October 2022. Fidelity estimates the value of X (math pun) at $12.5 billion today. Yikes. Monthly users dropped by 15% in the first year under new management.
2. Timberlake
Oh, Justin.
3. Santos
A 23-count federal indictment resulted in a decisive bipartisan vote to remove a member of the House of Representatives. George Santos joins a short list of expelled losers, miscreants, con-men and confederates. He’s on Cameo now.
4. “Windham Mtn. Club”
Really less a criticism of the destination, and more an indictment of the 1% approach. Using language like ‘rarefied air’ and privatizing a mountain is a bad look for the sports of skiing and snowboarding.
The poor design decisions are, unbelievably, not what’s the most upsetting about the relaunch of a new direction for Windham. Saying goodbye is never a good way to start. Making sepiatone an accessory after the fact was also unfair.
5. CX Managers
60% of customers will defect after a bad experience. That’s a helluva stat.
Objectively, COVID was a game-changer that impacted attention spans, proclivities, and opinions. Pandemic closures gutted the service industry, retailers and restaurants have struggled to re-hire the necessary workforce to provide a great customer experience. No amount of brand management and social capital can replace a bad experience. Read more about the omni-channel approach to surrounding customers with your brand, making sure each touchpoint has meaning.
…but enough about 2023. Who do you predict will own the marketplace this calendar year?