Hipsters: Defined and Sold
I’m not going to go about trying to explain to you the many traits or trends considered signs of a hipster, because some hipster sitting in the Ferry Building on his MacBook Air already beat me to the punch. But we all know the standard signs: lumberjack-styled facial hair, flannel, PBR, overpriced coffee, underpriced clothing. A faux sense of enlightenment, entitlement, and superiority. A pair of Ray Bans and a bike with one gear.
All of these traits, when featured on one individual, represent the hipster. But how often do they all manifest themselves in one glorious representation of the human race? What about the guy that just happens to like beards? Or the girl whose Ray Bans are prescription? They aren’t hipsters. They are just people.
My point is that for someone to truly earn the label of hipster, they need to posses all or most of the stereotypes. I have really only met one or two of these creatures and it led me to a conclusion.
The advertising agency as a whole is the biggest hipster. I can’t even count how many of us are headed for the annual hipster throwdown in that one place where nothing else ever happens. (Yes, I am talking about Coachella.) Or the amount of facial hair cascading down the faces of account folk and creatives alike. Or the obsession with artisanal organic vegan green everything, wrapped in a beautiful glass and aluminum enclosure from that one company in Cupertino.
So why is it so hard for us to sell to this elusive market? They can afford pricey tech devices and ridiculously expensive coffee; yet trying to sell a hipster on the value of Internet security is near impossible. I feel that the weak spot lies within the hipsters ego. They, more so than other buying groups, really see the products they use on a daily basis as extensions and even manifestations of their true personalities. They want a way to tell the world just how hip they really are. And the best way to tell is to show. This is also what is driving some of the success that brands are having via social media. These communities give the hipster a forum to display all that is hip, especially their most recent purchases.
Maybe the answer to selling this elusive target audience is not to overtly sell, but to undersell the implication. To be exclusive, you need to be elusive. Because even hipsters want things that they can’t have.
Written by Bryan Dempler and Mark Blanchard
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