A Fundamental Shift

Why do we buy one shirt over another?
Why do millions choose the exact same lip balm?
Why are some products so much more successful than others?

Classical economics says:
Products solve problems and deliver utility.

Reality says:
In a world where functional benefits barely differ, we buy something else:

We buy belonging.
We buy identity.
We buy community.

And this is exactly where the future of brands lies.

Subjective Value Is Born in Subcultures

The Austrian School of Economics formulated it over 100 years ago:
Value is created in the mind.

It does not live in the product — it lives in people.
In their desires, meanings, fantasies.

These desires form first in subcultures:
while searching together for new knitting patterns
in Pilates class
on Discord servers
while partying

New identities emerge there long before they become a market.

Economics knows:
Collective subjective value creates objective price.

Adoption Is Psychology — Not Function

People rarely buy something new because it is objectively better —
but because it says something about who they are.

Products are vehicles for social signaling.

No one buys a handbag for storage space.
No one buys a football jersey for the material.
No one buys a smartphone for the tech specs.
(Sure: sometimes — but that is not the core.)

We buy the community and the identity built around these objects.

Social Proof: The Future Becomes Real When Others Share It

For a new cultural meaning to break into the market, we need shared symbols, rituals, and spaces — and especially other people who join in.

No one wants to be the only one
to believe in something.

Community removes risk from adoption.
It makes the new safe — and therefore desirable.

The Future Belongs to Brands That Know What Comes Next

Given the overwhelming saturation in every aspect of life, the key question is no longer:

What does the world need?
But: Who does the world want to be?

Brands win when they understand early
which identities are emerging,
which communities are forming —
and when they show up exactly where the future has already begun.

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