Business Under the radar Obscure trends and subcultures sometimes make the leap from the unknown to national consciousness. But how should brands interact with the niche? By Liam Kay-McClean V eganism is commonplace these days, a fixture on restaurant menus and in supermarket aisles, with companies fighting to bring out vegan versions of their most famous products. But veganism was not always part of the mainstream. In November 1944, the word vegan was coined by a group of six non-dairy vegetarians in a meeting called by Donald Watson. The movement started as a tiny subculture within the vegetarian movement, and eventually grew to the lifestyle seen across the world today. There are numerous other examples of niche trends and subcultures hitting the big time, from punk to Pokmon, and much in between. But does the idea of a subculture resonate with a generation brought up in a digital world, where new communities and information are at our fingertips? And how should brands interact with new trends before they reach the general public? Market research company The Nursery carried out a project to examine subcultures because of a relative lack of research, with much media coverage of the area bemoaning the death of the subculture and the role of the internet in its demise. The research team wanted to see how many people were into subcultures and what modern subcultures look like. Subcultures were deemed to be communities of people who exist alongside mainstream society but remain separate, and could be based around a number of areas, including music, food or religion. This led to a small qualitative study with 25 to 30 people exploring their views on the subcultures they had joined, followed by a nationally representative survey with 1,805 people that examined the proportion of people involved in a subculture, as well as their attitudes and behaviours. The survey found that 56% of participants deemed themselves to be an active member of a subculture: 75% considered it a key part of their identity, with a wide range of reasons for joining. For some people, it was about creativity; for other people, it was more about making friends, says Natalie Webb, associate director at The Nursery. The Nurserys subcultures research has fed into another project carried out with marketer Helen Edwards, Marginal to Mainstream, which has since been published as a book based on the findings. The researchers explored 21 marginal behaviours, such as naturism or living off the sea, and attempted to predict their likelihood of breaking through and becoming popular. This was done through a nationally representative study in the US and UK, as well as qualitative research through 10 focus groups across the two nations. Subcultures and niche trends can burst into the mainstream see punk, for example but quite often live outside the knowledge of most of the population. However, this does not mean that companies should ignore them. As the book says, if youre looking for high growth, dont start with something thats already grown; start, instead, from something small, marginal, promising. Finding links Steve King, co-founder and chief executive at Black Swan Data, says that the most important factor behind determining which niche trends and subcultures enter the mainstream is their connection to wider societal shifts for example, veganisms relationship with the broader environmental movement and shift towards healthier lifestyles. The trends that appear and disappear arent necessarily connected to bigger trends, King explains. Theres no consumer driver that is changing peoples lives. You can tell if a trend is going to be successful or not by the environment around it and what it is connected to, and whether those things are also on a trend journey. They can become quite predictable once you understand the science behind it. How a brand and society interact with one another provides the best prediction of success (or otherwise) for a companys foray into a niche trend, according to Martin Raymond, editor-in-chief and co-founder at The Future Laboratory. Its about using the current trend filters in the market, then overlaying a brand filter for what it means, what the future of this sector is within the context of the likely future scenario, he explains. We use all this to forward extrapolate trends that 46 Impact ISSUE 42 2023_pp46-47_Business.indd 46 16/06/2023 17:16