Monday Memo
A Byte of Knowledge
A shopping bag is nothing more than a cost, right?
A necessary evil to get a product home.
But Lululemon saw it as a marketing weapon.
And let’s be clear, it has nothing to do with the inspirational quotes they print on the side.
That’s just brand reinforcement.
The real genius is they understood what their customers truly value.
Status.
Carrying that bag is a powerful signal.
It tells the world you can afford $128 yoga pants.
It shows you’re part of an upper echelon of society.
And every one of those bags is a silent, walking billboard for Lululemon.
It's brilliant.
They took a boring, everyday object and turned it into a physical symbol of wealth and identity.
In other words...
They let their customers do the bragging for them.
Now, think about your business.
What are you overlooking?
What's something ordinary that you could transform into your own marketing weapon?
🚀 Whether you're selling a $50 supplements or a $10,000 coaching program – having these 5 'Copy Blocks' on your landing page could be the difference between crickets and an avalanche of cash flow.
Discover All 5 'Copy Blocks' Now
Something to Ponder
We Asked – AI Answered
Our Question:
"When we were growing up, New Balance was as lame as it gets. Total dad shoes. Now they are extremely popular with Gen Z. What was behind this marketing revival?"
AI's Answer: The New Balance Comeback
🌪️ The Perfect Storm of Uncool Becoming Cool
Around 2018-2019, something fascinating occurred. Gen Z started rejecting the "trying too hard" aesthetic of millennials. While millennials chased sleek, minimal designs (think Allbirds), Gen Z embraced "normcore" – deliberately dressing like nobody special.
New Balance was sitting right there, the ultimate normcore brand.
🪩 The Aimé Leon Dore Effect
In 2019, Teddy Santis (founder of streetwear brand Aimé Leon Dore) started collaborating with New Balance. This wasn't celebrity endorsement nonsense – it was surgical brand repositioning.
The magic: Santis took the 550s (a forgotten 1989 basketball shoe) and made them the most coveted sneaker of 2020-2021. Resale prices hit $400+ for shoes that retail at $110.
📱The Anti-Algorithm Play
New Balance barely tried on social media initially. While Nike was pumping millions into Instagram ads, New Balance had this "if you know, you know" energy. Gen Z, who've been marketed to since birth, found this refreshing. The brand grew through Reddit sneaker forums, Discord servers, and actual word-of-mouth.
Unlike Supreme's manufactured drops, New Balance created natural scarcity.
• Premium tier: Made-in-USA line (990s, 992s, 993s) stayed expensive ($185-250) and hard to find
• The genius part: Kept regular Asian-made versions accessible
• Result: You could participate in the trend at any price point
📊 The Data That Matters
• Piper Sandler's 2023 teen survey: New Balance jumped from 5% to 11% preference among upper-income teens (2019-2023)
• StockX data: New Balance trades increased 380% between 2020-2022
• The 550 specifically saw 2,000%+ price appreciation on resale markets
The #newbalance hashtag evem has 4.8B views, but it wasn't planned. Kids started ironically wearing their actual dad's NBs, posting fit checks. The algorithm loved the engagement from comments like "are those your father's?" The irony became sincerity.
🎯 Why This Actually Worked
Three psychological principles:
- Costly Signaling – Wearing "ugly" shoes signals confidence
- Nostalgic Futurism – Gen Z romanticizes eras they never experienced (90s dad aesthetic)
- The Pratfall Effect – Imperfection makes things more likable
New Balance never abandoned their core customer (actual dads). They still make wide sizes, arch support, all that unsexy stuff. They just added a parallel cool track. Revenue grew from $3.3B (2016) to $6.5B (2023).
💡 The Lesson?
Stop trying to be cool. Be so uncool that you become interesting. Then let culture find you. New Balance didn't chase Gen Z – they just stayed consistently themselves while the definition of cool came full circle.
Thanks for reading the Monday Memo.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
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