Trend: Club Culture Brands

Clubs carry their style and music outside the actual club space, creating their own club culture brand.

Trend Description:
In metropolitan cities, where space is rare, clubs often replace the private living room. These clubs are well-designed places representing the perfect place to meet friends and socialize. Now some of these clubs have started to carry their style outside of the actual club space. As a result, they spin off music, restaurants, fashion, accessories, enabling people to create their own image of their favorite club – and thereby developing a unique club-culture brand.

Please read our related Trend: Hotel DJ.

Case Studies:

Ministry of Sound
Since the original club opened fifteen years ago in London’s Elephant and Castle, Ministry of Sound has become a global brand. The club has not only successfully established itself globally (from Europe to Asia), but also started to brand a variety of products, services and new locations. The club’s website offers all kinds of dance music, audio-equipment, fashion, and a radio and TV station. There are videos, interviews, updates about events, parties – and, yes, Ministry of Sound vacation packages. With the new “Minibar”, which opened in March this year, Ministry of Sound will also revolutionize the bar concept. Guest can enjoy a hot tub, write in their diaries or flirt in the video bar via web cam. Of course, there are also some bars and a dance floor. Ministry of Sound plans to roll out this concept in every major U.K. city.

Buddha Bar
The concept of Buddha Bar was developed by Raymond Visan in Paris. Inspired by his travels through Asia and his passion for good food, good music and good clubs, he created a club-style restaurant which now has several branches in Paris and New York and features its own record label, George V. records. Buddah Bar collaborates with other labels and fashion brand, promotes high-tech gadgets and even sponsors high-class sports events. There are fashion shows, concerts, DJ tours, art events and collaborations with other Raymond Visan clubs and locations.

Cream
Apart from Ministry of Sound, Cream is probably the most recognizable dance music (house) brand globally. But as dance music went underground in the early 90s, founder Jim Barton thought of something else. With Babycream, he established two successful bar-club-restaurants in Leeds and Liverpool, and he plans to expand. There are already Creamfields festivals all over the world (Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Argentina and in 2006 in Russia and Poland), 2 more Babycreams are in planning, and some Cream products are supposed to hit the market soon.

Trend Impact
As clubs develop their own brands, some companies are already starting to join. Clubs feature play stations or offer gadget and gizmo showcases in their boutiques. Different kinds of equipment are available on the clubs’ websites which might also feature advertisements of companies defining themselves through club culture or hosting promotions and contests in collaboration with the club. In the future we will see more of that as well as other institutions develop their own culture brands.

Ministry of Sound

Buddha Bar

Babycream

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