Spice Girls: The Ultimate Brand

I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say I was a huge fan of the Spice Girls when I was a kid. They had fun music to dance to, characters you could connect with, and enough merchandise to furnish a house with.

But what do they have to do with design? It took me a long time to realise, but looking back – Spice Girls are the ultimate brand. They were so good at branding we didn’t even notice they were (and still are) a brand.

They had a logo, they had their colour scheme (each girl with their own colour), each Spice Girl had their own personality which made the brand human and easy to connect to – and they were consistent. You knew it was something Spice Girls instantly, whether it was a CD, a poster or a mug. It had less to do with their music, and everything to do with their image.

Delving further in, the brand was more clever than we give them credit for. With each girl having her own unique personality and dress sense, this was akin to a business having 5 sub-brands under the one umbrella. 5 brands = greater opportunity to appeal to more people. Everyone had a preferred Spice Girl, even those who claim they weren’t fans! (We know you really are – go on, admit it!)

The merchandise solidified the brand. Even though the merchandise was tacky, it did what any brand needs to do: stay in the forefront of people’s minds. When branding is everywhere, it’s a constant reminder. The Spice Girls merchandise did just that, and built an empire along the way.