How Madison Avenue is borrowing from Marvel’s playbook: The rise of brand universe building
The latest power player in the universe-building business isn't Disney or Warner Bros, it's your sunscreen brand. Ben Clare, executive creative director at We Are Social, explains more.
In a marketing landscape where traditional campaigns are increasingly tuned out by ad-weary consumers, some brands are tearing up the script, creating what most CMOs can only dream about – worlds people actually want to spend time in.
Late Checkout. Alexis Bittar. Vacation. These aren’t just brands now. They’re complete universes with their own gravity, pulling people in not because they need to sell you something, but because they’ve built something worth experiencing.
They’re among a savvy few who’ve recognised a fundamental shift in social: what separates forgettable brands from unforgettable ones in the feed isn’t better design or bigger budgets—it’s better storytelling.
Fashion label Late Checkout has crafted a surrealist, cinematic universe across their social channels populated by characters who feel more like protagonists than marketing devices. The Bellboy and The Valet aren’t mascots—they’re central figures in an evolving narrative that transcends typical fashion content. People aren’t just engaging—they’re in the comments section begging for these narratives to expand. When was the last time anyone begged for your next ad campaign?
Meanwhile, legacy jewellery brand Alexis Bittar has rejuvenated its image with ‘The Bittarverse’—a satirical art-house take on the New York fashion industry that feels more like indie filmmaking than traditional marketing. This blend of narrative and social satire isn’t just creatively interesting—it’s commercially powerful. Since relaunching three years ago with the Bittarverse concept, they’ve seen 30% sales growth and significant follower increases across their platforms.
Even Vacation’s retro sunscreen line has parlayed its fictional universe into serious marketplace traction. They’re not just selling SPF. They’re selling a time machine to a 1980s that never existed but feels more real than most things on your feed. They’ve bottled nostalgia and put it on a shelf.
These brands understand that attention isn’t earned through interruption anymore. It’s earned through invitation. For them, it isn’t about quick wins or content fodder. It’s about building something that compounds over time. Something with cultural gravity. Something worth talking about.
One could argue that luxury fashion houses have been crafting elaborate brand universes for decades.
Chanel built its mythology around Coco’s Parisian apartment. Louis Vuitton’s universe revolves around the romance of a journey you haven’t taken yet. Hermès has cultivated a world of equestrian heritage you can wear. These legacy brands recognised long before social media that commerce wasn’t just about objects but about entry into a carefully constructed world with its own codes, characters, and continuity.
Ben Clare
What’s changing now isn’t the strategy. It’s the democratisation of it.
The proliferation of social platforms has created countless digital stages where brand universes can premiere to global audiences at unprecedented speed. You don’t need LVMH’s budget to create them. You just need imagination, consistency, and the courage to build something with cultural ambition beyond the transaction.
But for brands eyeing this approach, half-measures won’t cut it. What separates successful brand universes from forgettable marketing gimmicks is the palpable sense of passion and attention to detail. When Late Checkout customises their entire website to match their fictional world, or when Vacation meticulously recreates 1980s aesthetics down to the typography and film grain, audiences notice.
These details matter because they signal genuine creative investment. And in an era where consumers can instantly identify manufactured authenticity, these labour-intensive touches communicate that the brand truly cares, not just about selling products, but about creating something genuinely entertaining and valuable.
For brands drowning in category parity, fictional universes provide an uncopyable advantage. The imaginative world you construct—complete with its distinctive vernacular, insider references, and ongoing storylines—creates a separation no spec sheet can match.
The defining brands of tomorrow won’t just occupy shelf space. They’ll create cultural real estate that consumers will never want to leave.
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