Bloom Thinks: Reacting & Interacting

We’re working on a lot of flavour mashups, limited editions and collabs. What can brands learn from their enduring appeal?

Way back in 2022 a special feature in The Grocer speculated that we’d reached peak limited edition. The article argued that brands had become addicted to buzzy short-term wins and needed to recommit to long-term innovation.

But whatever marketeers might think people keep buying them. Their appeal is a lesson in how modern brands should behave to keep people engaged.

There’s a famous experiment involving rats and varying strengths of sugary water that shows mammalian brains love uncertain outcomes. They prefer a dispenser that randomly switches between sweet and plain water over one that’s sweet all the time.

Just like rodents we can’t resist novelty, especially if it involves being kept guessing. The more uncertain the outcome, the bigger the dopamine hit when our hopes are satisfied.

Its the same in culture. Take two of the most enduring artists of recent times – Bowie and Banksy. Even when the music wasn’t great David Bowie’s shapeshifting persona gifted him one of the longest careers in music. Love him or hate him (her?) Banksy’s spontaneity has made them one the most collectable street artists of all time.

Fashion brands are the masters of keeping their audiences hooked. The drops, editions and collabs of MSCHF, Supreme, Gucci or Palace create tribes of obsessive insiders. With every release these loyalists are rewarded with that ‘I get it; so it must be for me’ feeling.

But FMCG can do it too. The best examples – like Heinz x Morleys, Greggs x Primark or Philadelphia Schmear socks (look them up) – are when brands find partners from across the cultural divide who they nonetheless have common ground with.

So what does this teach us about how modern brands should behave. It’s all about reacting to and interacting with the real world. Limited editions help turn brands from marques or products into living breathing, fluid things. It increases their relatability by making them feel more human. It’s being on the dancefloor. Not watching from the wings.

And the best thing is limited editions are real. They’re not comms, campaign or content. They’re real tangible products people can react to and interact with by trying, owning, collecting and sharing them.

The best editions work alongside a brand’s permanent products and assets, refreshing recognition, meaning and memory. But refreshment comes from getting out into the world, reacting to change and interacting with culture and life. Whether it’s by launching ltd editions, or by any other means, consumers expect brands to have skin in the cultural game.