Brand mating rituals

The Rituals of Animal, Brand vs GenZ Courtship

While exploring the David Attenborough exhibition at the Natural History Museum today, it made me think about the ritual nature of attraction—how animals perform elaborate displays to secure a mate. Humans, too, follow distinct social codes in romance. And so, do brands!

Like living organisms brands through channel strategy, pricing, and presentation, mimic the same calibrated behaviors— choosing when to be seen, how much to reveal, to who and how, to get what kind of relationship they want. Like people on the dating scene, brands have personalities. Some have high opinions of themselves. Some are eager. Some are always available.

So of the three species of brand behavior you asked us to examine—ultra-luxury fashion, premium chocolate, and my mass-market beer analysis—there are courtship styles, coded for different results, like their biological roots and now even in GenZ/millennial relationship archetypes. (I went to the museum with my teenager and her friend group that were flirting in different ways the whole trip).

🦚 Ultra-Luxury Fashion = The Peacock + Aristocratic Arrangement + GenZ “Main Character vibe”

https://youtu.be/TTwT1-TpFhE?feature=shared

Luxury fashion brands—Hermès, Chanel, Rolex—are the peacocks of the market. They commandattention. Their displays are rare, controlled, and ceremonial. You’ll find them only in highly curated environments, with unique majestic campaigns and waitlists.

Their human equivalent is the GenZ “main character energy” aka that person who says little, but somehow becomes the centre of the room. Emotionally unavailable, but captivating. The one who knows their worth and lets you chase. A pomp and circumstance mystique.

Socially amongst my generation humans, this mimics the aristocratic alliance where relationships are based on power, legacy, and gatekeeping. You can’t just marry in.

🦜 Luxury Chocolate =The Birds-of-Paradise: Competitive bedazzling Display in a Crowded Market

https://youtu.be/nWfyw51DQfU?si=q-ARR-r2WR4FTD99

Across the rainforests of New Guinea, 42 known species of birds-of-paradise engage in some of the animal kingdom’s most elaborate mating rituals. Each species performs differently—some clear display arenas on the forest floor, others hang upside down, transforming their feathers into living illusions. These rituals are not practical and are 100% designed for effect. The aim is ATTENTION! However brief and focused, but emotionally charged.

Premium chocolate operates similarly. These brands do not strive for everyday presence or habitual consumption like a Kitkat at every break. Instead, they appear with intentionality through elegant gift like displays that probably the box costs more than producing the chocolate, snazzy eye catching seasonal releases, limited-edition packaging, and curated boutique environments(like the forest floor clearing). Their value lies not in frequency, but in the intensity of a well-crafted moment.

This is not a strategy of volume, but a strategy of distinctiveness. In a marketplace filled with noise, brands like Hotel Chocolat or Pierre Marcolini carve out space by controlling how and when they are experienced. Like the birds-of-paradise, they rely on performance.

So human GenZ equivalent could be:

“The Vibey Hinge Date” or “First-Date Maximalist” This is the person who doesn’t want a move in together relationship, but they will make your date feel like a cinematic short film. The outfit is curated. The playlist was thought through. The café has just the right lighting.

They’re more attainable than the “main character.” Similarly they perform a sort of mystique You’re drawn in by the look, the tone, the aesthetic. It’s a vibe your attracted to, even if it only lasted a weekend.

🐸 Mass-Market Beer = The Frog + Swipe Dating + “Pick Me Energy”

https://youtu.be/WWohDFKmB7U?feature=shared

Like with frogs, at nightfall the competition intensifies with the variety of beer brands. Then there are the brands who are everywhere. Budweiser, Heineken, Corona—they flood our environments like attention sluts. They’re in ads, parties, game nights, and convenience stores. Like the jungle frogs, their strategy is repetition quantity accessibility : if they’re loud and present enough and lots of them everywhere they will nab someone.

Their dating archetype is The “Pick Me”. They try hard. They’re enthusiastic. They align themselves with every social ritual trying to be the drink you grab when you don’t want to think too much. Their goal isn’t mystery. It’s familiarity. They just want to be chosen.

They often are for many.They are the dependable Friday night swipe, the friend who’s always available. Not thrilling—but always there.

So what do you think?

Do you agree that in nature, mating rituals are performances like in society, they become expressions of identity and in branding, they evolve into channel strategy, product positioning, and emotional narrative?

Brands, like people, tell us what kind of relationship they want. Some asses if your a good match or not of their caliber. Some invite you to indulge every now and then. Some desperately want to be noticed.

And the ones who understand the ritual tend to find the mate they’re looking for.

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Thank you so much. I’m so pleased that you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to break it down. I really appreciate it. 26 words

Hey Mo!

Loved this—thank you. And yes: I’ve absolutely dated people who used hybrid techniques (read: The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts Book by Gary Chapman, or don’t). When you’re in a relationship you basically run an ongoing A/B test across words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, gifts, and the occasional “limited‑edition” grand gesture to see what actually moves the needle. Brands can and should do the same.

So, could a luxury chocolate brand go a bit “froglike” at holidays/pop‑ups without losing its peacocky mystique? 100% if it keeps its core codes intact and treats the ‘frog’ as a controlled experiment, not a personality transplant. Thats what all the xmas sales and Black Friday cyber Monday discounts, gifts are all about and create a manic excitement, then go back to their prestige. That’s quality‑time meets gifts temporarily amped without abandoning everyday elegance (Sharp, 2010).

• Words of affirmation → copy that flatters the buyer’s taste (value signaling). • Acts of service → concierge delivery, flawless CX, sustainable sourcing transparency. • Quality time → immersive pop‑ups, tasting salons, chef tables (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). • Gifts → surprise‑and‑delight insert, numbered sleeves (Cialdini, 2007: reciprocity + scarcity). • Physical touch → haptics: weighty box you wanna keep, magnetized closure love that thing, textured foil (embodied premium).

I think the 70/20/10 rule may apply to keep thinks interesting: 70% timeless peacock, 20% seasonal ‘frog’ expressions, 10% experimental weird/cute. That keeps distinctiveness high while learning fast (Kotler & Keller, 2016). It may even be the formula for a long-term healthy relationship. I better talk to my husband about this!

I Think of them like trying multiple love languages until you find the one that actually lands and keeps the relationship spicy. 294 words