The consumer brand playbook is being rewritten in real time.
In a world overflowing with ads, influencers, algorithms, and infinite choice, the brands that win are no longer the ones that shout the loudest. They are the ones that make people feel something. Belonging. Identity. Purpose. Ownership.
That truth came into sharp focus during a recent panel conversation with leaders from Rare Beauty, Living Proof, Cotopaxi, and Topicals—brands that have built deep emotional resonance not through traditional marketing, but through community-first growth.
Community is no longer a "nice to have." It is quickly becoming one of the most defensible growth engines a brand can build. When done right, community transforms customers into super fans, super fans into advocates, and products into true brand obsessions.
This article breaks down what today’s most iconic brands understand about community, co-creation, and results—and how modern brands can operationalize obsession at scale.
Obsession starts with emotion.
In my experience building and advising high-growth brands, obsession is never about the product alone. It’s about how the brand makes people feel about themselves. The most successful brands today don’t sell products—they sell identity, confidence, belonging, and aspiration.
Chrissy, one of the panelists, shared how she built Sky Ting as a space where people felt “at home.” In a city like New York—where loneliness is common despite constant proximity—Sky Ting became a place of belonging. Members weren’t just customers; they were part of the brand’s story, its culture, its lore.
That same emotional throughline showed up across every brand represented:
Across categories, geographies, and audiences, the insight is universal: brands that build emotional connection build staying power.
Brand obsession is not accidental. It is built—intentionally, systematically, and consistently.
Based on patterns across the most successful community-led brands, obsession is driven by four core pillars:
Every iconic brand starts with a strong "why." Why do you exist? What change are you trying to make? What belief system do you stand for?
A clear mission acts as a filter—for decisions, partnerships, content, and community behavior. Without it, community becomes noise. With it, community becomes culture.
Obsession is fueled by habit.
The strongest brands create rituals—repeatable moments of engagement that bring the community together. These can be:
What matters is consistency. Rituals signal commitment and give members a reason to return—even when there isn’t a major launch.
True community is not one-to-many (brand to consumer). It’s many-to-many. Brands win when they create spaces where members build relationships with each other, not just with the brand. When friendships form inside a brand ecosystem, switching costs skyrocket.
The brand becomes a connector, not just a broadcaster.
Obsessed fans want to contribute—and they want to be recognized.
The most effective community strategies reward members for participation, advocacy, and impact. That doesn’t always mean discounts. Often, it means:
When your most passionate customers are incentivized to share, refer, and create, word-of-mouth becomes your most powerful growth channel.
The future of brand building is participatory.
Co-creation is the practice of inviting your community into the process—product development, messaging, testing, and evolution. It signals trust, respect, and shared ownership.
A powerful example of this is Messy, a new brand that launched its community before launching its product.
Rather than leading with inventory, Messy led with a movement. They recruited people who believed in the brand’s mission and vision—then brought the product into that ecosystem.
For the launch of their Hydrating Recovery Hair Mask:
This is the power of co-creation. Customers don’t just want to consume—they want to contribute. They want to be part of the brainstorm, the mood board, and the decision-making process.
When customers feel ownership, loyalty follows naturally.
For years, community was seen as the "soft side" of marketing—valuable, but difficult to quantify.
That’s changing.
Today, platforms like TYB allow brands to connect community activity directly to measurable business outcomes. Community is no longer just the soul of the brand—it’s a performance channel.
Living Proof provides a clear example:
This immediate traction served as real-time validation. It showed that when brands meet consumers where they already are—and invite them into an authentic community—the response is fast and meaningful.
Data doesn’t replace emotion. It amplifies it.
One of the hardest challenges for growing brands is maintaining the magic of the early days.
Rare Beauty, now generating over half a billion dollars in revenue across 37 markets, started with intimate Zoom-based “Rare Chats” during COVID. As the brand scaled, TYB became the natural evolution—allowing the community to grow without losing its two-way connection.
Even at massive scale, Rare Beauty’s goal remains the same: make the community feel personal, inclusive, and owned by its members. Longtime fans welcome newcomers. The space feels shared, not corporate.
That level of trust doesn’t come from launches alone. It comes from consistency.
Brands that build obsession show up in the quiet moments—the lulls between drops, the everyday conversations, the always-on engagement. When brands invest consistently, communities return the favor tenfold when it matters most.
In an era of infinite content and shrinking attention spans, community is clarity.
The brands that will win the next decade are the ones that:
Community is no longer an experiment. It’s the foundation.
The formula for brand obsession is clear—and for brands willing to commit, the results are undeniable.
Brand obsession goes beyond loyalty. It’s when customers identify with a brand, actively participate in its growth, and advocate for it without being asked. Obsession is driven by emotion, belonging, and shared ownership—not discounts or frequency alone.
Community creates defensibility. When customers build relationships with each other inside a brand ecosystem, switching costs increase and word-of-mouth accelerates. Community transforms marketing from one-to-many messaging into many-to-many connection.
Co-creation invites customers into the process itself—product development, testing, messaging, and evolution. Instead of reacting to feedback after launch, brands collaborate with their community before and during creation, building ownership and trust.
Yes. Modern platforms like TYB connect community participation directly to outcomes such as engagement, retention, referrals, and launch performance. Community is no longer a soft metric—it’s a measurable growth channel.
By maintaining two-way participation, consistent rituals, and recognition. Scaling works when brands design systems that preserve dialogue and belonging, rather than defaulting to broadcast-style communication.
No. Brands like Rare Beauty demonstrate that community can scale globally when supported by the right infrastructure. The principles remain the same; the systems evolve.
