The era of the passive consumer is reaching its definitive end. For years, marketing departments have treated "community" as a buzzword—a metric to be measured in Instagram followers, newsletter sign-ups, and superficial engagement rates. However, a groundbreaking new report from Iris Ventures, a London-based private equity firm specializing in the lifestyle, beauty, and wellness sectors, suggests that these traditional metrics are no longer sufficient to guarantee a brand’s survival. Titled "Beyond Community: How Brands Build Belonging," the report argues that for a brand to achieve true longevity in an increasingly fractured marketplace, it must pivot from merely "building a community" to "fostering a sense of belonging."
This shift is not merely a philosophical preference; it is an economic necessity. As the digital landscape becomes more crowded and privacy regulations make targeted advertising more complex and expensive, the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) has skyrocketed. Brands can no longer afford to constantly buy new eyeballs. Instead, they must create a "moat" around their existing base—a psychological and cultural barrier that competitors cannot easily penetrate. According to Iris Ventures, that moat is built on the profound human need for belonging.
Montse Suarez, the founder and managing partner of Iris Ventures, emphasizes that the size of a brand’s audience is increasingly irrelevant if that audience lacks a shared identity. In her view, the most durable value is created by brands that don’t just sell products but actually build culture. These brands make individuals feel like they are part of something larger than themselves. Suarez notes that while creating a community was once considered a high-level strategy, it has now become the baseline. To succeed in the current climate, brands must dig deeper into the nuances of human connection, moving beyond the transaction to the transformational.
The report, spearheaded by Iris Ventures’ head of research, Marta Indeka, highlights a significant shift in consumer expectations. Today’s consumers are fatigued by the "content capture" culture that has dominated the last decade. They are no longer satisfied with pop-up shops designed solely for Instagram photos or product sampling events that offer nothing more than a free gift. Instead, Indeka argues that modern consumers crave participation, shared effort, and a sense of personal transformation. The formats that are currently resonating are those where brands act as facilitators—giving people meaningful tasks and shared goals rather than just a place to stand and look at products.
One of the core arguments of the 20-page report is that brands must transition from being "heroes" to being "hosts." In the traditional marketing model, the brand was the hero of the story—the savior that solved a problem for the customer. In the "belonging" model, the customer is the hero, and the brand is the host that provides the environment, the tools, and the social fabric for the customer to thrive. This requires brands to ask a fundamental question: "What kind of behavior does our brand enable, repeat, and reward?" When a brand rewards behavior that aligns with the values of its members, it creates a self-sustaining ecosystem where customers stop being mere buyers and start being active members of a tribe.
The financial implications of this shift are profound. The report suggests that brands with a strong "cultural pull" experience significantly higher repeat purchase rates and a much lower dependency on paid acquisition. In a world where the "death of the cookie" and changes to mobile tracking have decimated traditional digital marketing ROI, organic growth fueled by belonging is the ultimate competitive advantage. This "belonging" creates compounding returns; as members feel more integrated into the brand’s culture, they become its most effective ambassadors, lowering the overall cost of growth.
To illustrate these concepts, Iris Ventures points to several portfolio companies that have successfully navigated this transition. A prime example is the health and wellness platform Healf. In October, the brand launched HX25 at 180 Studios in London, marking Europe’s first fully immersive wellbeing event. Rather than a standard trade show, HX25 was designed as a three-day experiential journey that drew over 5,000 attendees. Participants didn’t just browse products; they engaged in workshops, therapies, and high-level talks focused on physical, mental, and emotional health. By providing a space for shared effort and education, Healf transformed from a retailer into a cultural hub, cementing its role in the lives of its users.
The report also highlights how professional trust can serve as a foundation for belonging. Brands like Goddess, which focuses on hair care, and Olistic, a wellness brand, have achieved rapid growth by cultivating specific, high-trust audiences. Goddess didn’t try to speak to everyone at once; instead, it made the professional hairstylist community its primary cultural engine. By building distribution through the trust of professionals, the brand created a built-in endorsement that resonated with consumers. Similarly, Olistic worked closely with the pharmacy community. In a wellness market saturated with "noise" and unverified claims, the endorsement of a trusted professional becomes a "moat" that protects the brand from flash-in-the-pan competitors.
Perhaps the most poignant example of "belonging" cited in the report is Saysh, the footwear brand founded by Olympic legend Allyson Felix and her brother, Wes Felix. In the case of Saysh, the community already existed; it was simply waiting for a brand to represent it. The genesis of the brand was a direct response to Felix’s experience with Nike, which offered her a 70% pay cut after she became pregnant. This public struggle resonated with millions of women who felt that existing athletic systems were not built for their realities.
When Saysh launched performance footwear engineered specifically for women’s unique biomechanics—rather than the industry standard of "shrinking and pinking" men’s shoes—it wasn’t just selling sneakers. It was providing a flag for a community of women who felt overlooked. The report argues that Felix didn’t need to "build" this community from scratch; she simply gave a name and a product to a group of people who already shared a common frustration and a common mission. This level of authenticity and shared purpose is something that cannot be manufactured through traditional advertising.
The findings from Iris Ventures align with a broader global shift in the luxury sector, moving away from tangible goods toward "intangible luxury." This new form of luxury is defined by access to meaning, culture, and exclusive experiences. High-end brands like Ferrari and Mytheresa have already begun to lean into this. Ferrari doesn’t just sell cars; it sells entry into an elite club that includes factory tours, racing events, and a shared history of engineering excellence. Mytheresa offers its top-tier customers direct access to designers and thought-provoking workshops. These experiences provide something that a product alone cannot: a sense of being an insider.
Looking toward the next decade, the Iris Ventures report predicts that the brands that will earn the deepest loyalty are those that prove themselves to be "necessary" rather than just "loud." In an era of information overload, being the loudest voice in the room is no longer an effective strategy. Instead, brands must focus on being the most meaningful voice. They must facilitate connections that help people navigate a world that often feels lonely and disconnected.
The "loneliness epidemic" is a critical backdrop to this report. As traditional social structures—religious institutions, local clubs, and even physical workplaces—decline, people are increasingly looking to brands to provide a sense of identity and social connection. When a brand successfully facilitates these connections, it moves from being a commodity to being a vital part of a person’s social life.
In conclusion, the message from Iris Ventures is clear: the future of brand-building is human-centric. The "moat" of the future is not a proprietary algorithm or a massive marketing budget; it is the feeling of belonging that a brand can instill in its members. By moving away from the "hero" narrative and embracing the role of the "host," brands can create sustainable, resilient businesses that thrive on the compounding returns of true loyalty. In a marketplace where everything can be copied, a sense of belonging remains the one thing that is truly inimitable.
