We're living in a time where people don't just buy brands; they become them.
When someone chooses a skincare line, a yoga studio, or a therapy app, it's rarely about the product alone. It's because the brand reflects who they are, what they value, and the life they're creating.
This is customer value creation through culture: building brands that transcend function to become symbols of meaning.
In this article:
💛 How your brand helps people express identity
💛 Building connection and belonging through community
💛Standing for something meaningful to create real impact
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In today's beauty and wellness landscape, people aren't buying what you sell. They're buying what you stand for.
Your brand is no longer just products, treatments, or experiences. It's a cultural signal, a reflection of your customer's values, aspirations, and identity.
From skincare that celebrates real skin to yoga studios championing rest over hustle, to therapists reframing mental health as self-expression, the most magnetic brands don't sell things. They create belonging. They spark conversations. They build culture.
If you want lasting loyalty, don't chase attention. Create alignment. Because in this new era, the real currency isn't visibility, it's connection.
Fenty Beauty = inclusivity
Culture is the new currency of brand growth
As cultural strategist, Dr Marcus Collins says, "Enterprise value is cultural value."
It's simple: brands that connect with culture grow faster, stay relevant longer, and inspire deeper loyalty.
In beauty and wellness, culture shows up in how people choose to live, the rituals they follow, the communities they join, the identities they claim. From cold plunges and breathwork to skincare routines and mindful movement, culture drives what people buy and why.
When your brand understands these cultural undercurrents and positions itself within them, you don't have to shout for attention. You become part of your customer's world naturally
The concept explained: What “customer value through culture” actually means
Creating value through culture means building a brand that does more than solve a problem. It becomes a mirror of your customer's aspirations, belonging, and values.
In practical terms, it's aligning your brand with the identity, community, and causes your audience already cares about.
Here's how it works:
💛 Facilitate identity and self-expression
People express who they are (or who they're becoming) through what they buy.
A beauty brand celebrating natural texture or body diversity isn't just selling products, it's offering a language of self-acceptance. A wellness studio emphasising mindfulness over performance gives people permission to slow down and reconnect with themselves.
Brands that enable emotional self-expression create advocates, not just customers.
Why it matters: Connection is the new loyalty
In a world of infinite choice, people stay loyal to brands that see them.
When your brand acts as a cultural connector rather than just a company, you transform marketing into meaning.
💛 Consider:
Someone attending a Pilates studio that celebrates women at every life stage isn't just there for fitness. They're there for belonging.
A skincare founder who discusses emotional wellbeing, not just glowing skin, speaks to deeper identity needs.
A mindfulness coach weaving cultural conversations (like slowing down hustle culture) into her content becomes more than a business. She becomes a cultural voice.
That's how cultural relevance builds trust and long-term brand equity.
How to do it: turning cultural insight into brand strategy
Here's a framework to apply this thinking in your beauty or wellness brand:
1. Identify your tribe. Who are you really for? Go beyond demographics. What are their shared values, goals, and rituals?
2. Understand their cultural markers. What language do they use? What trends, practices, or symbols matter in their world? (Think "clean beauty", "self-care Sundays", "body neutrality".)
3. Align your brand behaviours. Reflect those values in your visuals, content, and experiences, your brand tone, packaging, partnerships, and even your playlist.
4. Facilitate community. Create spaces where your audience connects with each other, not just with you. That's how brands become movements.
5. Stand for something. Whether it's mental health, sustainability, or representation, show how your brand is helping shape the world your customers want to live in.
Glow Hub Skincare
Emerging leaders in customer-value creation
💛 Glow Hub Skincare understands Gen Z's emotional relationship with skincare. Its tone is friendly, self-aware, and relatable, mirroring the language of its community.
💛 Therabody evolved from tech brand to wellness culture icon. By aligning with recovery, mindfulness, and sleep optimisation, it transformed from a massage tool into a lifestyle partner.
💛 The Class by Taryn Toomey channels emotion and mindfulness through movement. It's not exercise, it's cultural therapy.
Each brand creates customer value not just by solving problems, but by tapping into emotional and cultural resonance..
Customer value creation through culture is about connection, not conversion.
It's about helping people express who they are, belong somewhere meaningful, and feel part of something that matters.
When your beauty or wellness brand becomes part of your audience's cultural story, their identity, their rituals, their values, you're not just building a business.
You're building a movement.
💛 Best,
Paula
