The secret behind Perplexity, Base, & Figma
How the fastest growing companies are reframing their offering to win the hearts of customers
The fastest growing brands in tech are using a different playbook to win on the (new) internet.
They aren’t just selling a product, they’re marketing a lifestyle.
Lifestyle brands have worked wonders for companies like Apple, Airbnb, & Nike. What’s their secret? They don’t just offer their community a solution to their functional problem, they help them live out their aspirations.
I’m starting to see this trend extend outside of consumer products into categories like technical infrastructure, developer tooling, & even into B2B software. In today’s economy, a product isn’t enough; people are looking to their products to find meaning in the world.
If the last decade was all about building something people want, the next will be about building something people want to be a part of.
That why I think the playbook for how to win on the (new) internet is evolving.
Let’s take a look at who is doing this well.
Perplexity
Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that answers your queries with extreme precision. How have they managed to get so much love in a highly commoditized category?
I find it interesting how they don’t market their technology at all. Instead, they’re building a lifestyle around curiosity. You can feel it across everything they do. Let’s take a look at their marketing.
They aren’t saying, “Use Perplexity because it’s a 10x product.” Instead, they invite you to “turn your curiosity into clarity” and “dare you to ask” with dreamy art direction that feels more like a children’s book than a traditional tech company aesthetic.
When they launch partnerships, each of their announcements feel more like a movie poster than traditional product marketing. Offering new ways to their customers to quench their curiosity.
I like to think of lifestyle brands like memes. If you can give your community the tools to perpetuate the meme, you win. But to do that well, you need to help them express themselves.
Exhibit A: Let’s take this hat, a classic merch staple that every company has in their repertoire.
Perplexity is still a relatively unknown brand. They don't yet have the brand equity of a company like Nike. So instead of slapping their name or logo on the front of their merch, they take a different approach, giving their community of early evangelists a way of expressing themselves.
“Know it all” says something about the person wearing it. It delivers on their brand promise and speaks to the value of using their product, in a fun & cheeky way. By helping their community say something about themselves, this a) helps ensure their merch will actually get worn and b) starts a conversation with those who might get similar value from the brand.
Perplexity is winning because they sell a lifestyle, not a set of features.
Base
Another good example is Base, the fast-growing L2 from Coinbase. If you’re familiar with the world of crypto you know this is a competitive market. Base has been able to win the hearts & minds of builders by turning their technology into a lifestyle.
The word “based” is defined as recognizing someone for being themselves. This is not only inline with crypto’s values, it’s an aspiration shared amongst creators & artists. Instead of designing their brand around their low-cost transaction fees, they’ve built an aspirational lifestyle around being “based” in service of their mission to bring more builders onchain.
The meme: If you build on base, you’re based.
It’s a call to action, one you feel across everything they do—their content, social media, even their merch.
Even their marketing campaigns have a different vibe to them. In a world where most brands market their key functional benefit, Base is building a movement for builders across the new internet to get behind. Onchain Summer is a campaign that operates with its own brand. Notice how it has its own domain, story, & aesthetic to rally builders to come on chain; one that taps into the zeitgeist to get the community’s attention.
Product companies market their features; lifestyle brands give the community something to rally around.
And unlike most brands on the new internet, Base has open sourced their mission, vision, & values. This invites like-minded builders to come along for the journey by highlighting their “why” next to their “how.” In a world where most L2’s are selling their technology, Base is winning by building a movement to bring more builders onchain.
Figma
My last example is one of the most beloved brands in the design community. It’s crazy how quickly Figma has completely transformed how things get built in tech. Just 5-10 years ago everyone was stuck in Sketch & Photoshop. Now, you’re hard pressed to find someone not using Figma.
While their product is significantly better than competitors, they too push a lifestyle born from their competitive advantage.
Take a look at their marketing—they’re building a lifestyle around collaboration, which reflects their unique advantage of multiplayer mode in the browser.
What’s cool is how their lifestyle extends beyond their marketing to the conferences they throw. Config is their summer conference where the world's leading designers, developers, product managers, and more will come together to learn, collaborate, and shape the future of design.
If and when the company is ready to invest more heavily into brand marketing, they’ll be well positioned to increase market share and cross the chasm into new markets by championing “collaboration” over “better functionality” even though their product is legit 10x better.
🍳
If you’re interested in our playbook for how to turn your product into a lifestyle, stay tuned for a follow up post in the near future. We’re preparing an actionable framework for how to uncover your customer’s aspiration, use it fuel your brand’s philosophy, all in service of rallying your community around your vision.
In the meantime, what are some other products in tech that have perpetuated a lifestyle? Hit that reply button to let us know. We’re building a library we’d love to open source to the community.