I’d be mortified if you saw my recent YouTube and Google search history.
Let’s just say it’s packed with search terms and questions around—to give them a PC term—The Physical Joys of Reaching a Certain Age.
I spend many an evening going down the rabbit hole, trying to find miracle cures for my plantar fasciitis, dry eye, and hair frizz (just to name a few of the delights I’m currently experiencing. TMI?).
But this, my friends, is aging. And hopefully I’ll get lots more of it to enjoy!
As someone who is feeling keenly aware and quite awkward about all the obstacles that can come with getting older—I’m obsessed with the brand storytelling of Caddis Eyewear.
They’re a brand that’s doing this verbal thing right in many ways, and I’d love to show you why. Let’s break it down:
They’re taking a big stand for (and against) something
This is the verbal gold I’m always harping on about: You gotta take a stand. Find something to grab your bullhorn and get fired up about, and build your brand on it.
In Caddis’ case, they’re standing up against the entire anti-aging industry that makes people (like me!) afraid of getting old. They’re the “anti-anti-aging” brand.
They make reading glasses, yes. But that’s not the only thing they’re selling.
They’re selling the notion that aging is awesome.
What’s great about this narrative of theirs is:
- It’s fresh for the category. You probably think of a certain type of person and image when you think of reading glasses. That’s because no one has ever bothered to shake up that image and question it. Hello, giant branding opportunity.
- It’s tied into culture. Whenever you can connect your story to something going on in culture (i.e. the culture of youth being so celebrated and worshiped), it has inherent relevancy. It’s more likely to get noticed and connect with humans that are experiencing that slice of culture right now.
- It’s an idea people can rally around. Of course people in midlife and beyond are going to embrace this age-positive mission—it taps into how they really feel. They’re not geezers, nor wannabe teenagers. They’re forces to be reckoned with who don’t want to sit around and be sad about their number of trips around the sun, but to live right here in the present.
This is one of those core brand stories that hits such an emotional sweet spot, there’s no doubt it’s going to work—and work for a very long time.
Their voice is strong (and strategic)
You can just feel the angst coming off of this brand and I love it.
It has a chip on its shoulder. There’s a brashness to it.
It’s clearly the voice of a Gen-Xer, which just so happens to make it highly relatable to the people of that generation they’re marketing to.
Your brand voice should be strategic, not random, and this one makes perfect sense.
They aren’t taking their mission too seriously
Sometimes having a strong stance can take you down a “preachy” path.
The best way to avoid this is to sprinkle in a dose of humor.
Caddis refers to itself as a “sh*tty cult,” hehe.
Check out this bit of microcopy—the contact email address. So good.
Their content path is clear and open
When you anchor your product brand in a strong, emotionally driven idea like this, suddenly you can see how your content universe can be so much bigger than photos of your product.
For Caddis, they can (and do) celebrate people who are aging with awesomeness, from regular folks to mega celebrities. They can tell insider Gen-X jokes only their audience will appreciate. They can post age-positive motivation.
There’s no more struggling with “what do we say?” when you have a big ol’ Bedrock Brand Idea underneath you.
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Can Caddis Eyewear be doing anything better? Yes. If you ask me, they’re only just scratching the surface in terms of how this great brand story can be brought to life.
Their About page, for example, is one paragraph. You could really blow this out into an engaging page that dives deeper into the narrative and is more fun (and easy) to read.
There could be more headlines and messaging around “anti-anti-aging” that pop up on social and other channels.
But the hard part—getting to a powerful, compelling story and voice to match—is done, and now it’s just a matter of expressing it, again and again.
Need help cracking your own Bedrock Brand Idea? Let's talk.
Thanks for reading. ‘Til next time,
Jenn
