Shelf appeal isn’t surface-level. It’s survival.
There are two kinds of brands:
→ The ones people walk past.
→ And the ones they can’t.
Guess which one gets bought?
Because here’s the not-so-soft truth: in the age of everything, attention is everything.
Your product might be brilliant. Your formulation might be flawless. Your founder story might be heartstring-pulling perfection.
But if your brand isn’t visually distinctive enough to catch a consumer mid-scroll or mid-aisle… you may as well be invisible.
Shelf appeal isn’t about decoration. It’s about disruption.
It’s how brands survive in the wild.
Welcome to The Beige Era (Population: Too Many)
The year is 2012. The era of sans serif logos, millennial pink, and “conscious consumption” is in full swing. Somewhere between the Pinterest board and the investor pitch, branding lost its teeth.
Suddenly, everything was “elevated.”
Everything was “modern.”
Everything was… soft.
Soft serif wordmarks. Soft muted palettes. Soft-safe energy from brands trying so desperately to offend no one, they managed to move no one.
Call it DTC Beige. Call it Millennial Minimalism. Call it what you like.
Continue reading on our Substack, Public Opinion.
