Why Dom Toretto from Fast & Furious would make a great clothing brand.

There are a few things in life I really love, two of which are The Fast & Furious franchise and branding. So why not combine the two.

I’ve worked with both independent ‘one-man bands’ and global companies. One of the first things I do, is ask for the brand book and try to figure out who the brand is on the inside but also what it stands for. Often the outside perspective is different to what the company stands for on the inside. They have let a few likes on social media, or a quick selling hoodie, dictate who they are and in doing so, are not staying true to their cause or their vision.

I won’t work with a brand until I know they have a good internal brand aka brand substance. (If they don’t have this, I’ll run them through my workshop to get them ready)

The four points below are your brand substance pillars. Everything you do needs to be in line with them.

• Purpose - Your brand’s reason for being, beyond making money.

• Vision - The trajectory of your brand and what you hope to achieve in the future. Think BHAG - Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. 

• Mission - Commitments your brand makes to achieve its vision for the future.

• Values - The non-negotiables that the company stands for and how do you go about your business.

These need to be authentic. Not what you think sounds good. These need to be what you truly believe. If you don’t believe these, you are wasting not only your time but your team’s time as well. I don’t believe in sharing these with the public but often people do, they think it’s a nice way to flex about how good of a human they are, personally, your touch points and actions as a company should show these. If you put your money where your mouth is, I won’t need to go to your About section on the website to read this. 

Going a step further. To round off the brand strategy, you need brand positioning that makes you unique and sets you up to win. These three are what you should use to dictate your brand’s positioning:

• Audience - Who are you talking to and what do you mean to these people?

• Competitors - If I’m not buying a t-shirt from you then who am I buying it from?

• Difference - Why am I choosing to shop with you over another company? This is how you win.

Now to my man Dom.

If you don’t know who Dom Toretto is, I’m really not sure how you found this newsletter. The two non-sports people I will reference the most is Johnny Utah & Dom Toretto - If you simplify the plot for each movie, they are very similar… (This might be a future newsletter.) 

If you paid any attention in just one of the 9 brilliant Fast & Furious movies, you will have most likely jokingly quoted Dom by saying "I don't have friends, I got family.”

Dom’s code (aka ‘purpose’ in the branding world) is based on the premise of doing anything for his family. It’s the reason he started stealing DVD players off the back of trucks in the streets of LA (F&F 1) and led to helping the government fly to space in a car - yes space. (You’ve gotta see the latest one.)

Dom’s brand is built around his purpose. Dom may not be Patagonia trying to save the planet but he’s in business to provide and protect his family. While you may not agree with his ethics and how he provides for his family, for him, this is all that matters - keeping them safe and putting food (or DVD’s) on the table. 

His vision is a world where you spend days fixing up cars, drag racing at night and having family BBQs on Sunday. A world without detectives snooping around and making him part of their plan to save the world from the next bad guy.

Now the mission is a tough one and I have to take an educated guess here, but I’d say his mission is to Provide the best quality life for his family, while driving the fastest cars in LA.

Values - Family, loyalty, respect and his word.
“You Make A Deal, You Got To Live Up To It."
“You don't turn your back on family, even when they do.”
"I don't have friends, I got family."
"You break her heart, I'll break your neck"
“Keep your car. Your respect is good enough for me.”
"I never narced on nobody! I never narced on nobody!"

Audience - Here’s how his audience changed:

• Those looking to buy some cheap DVD players & a tuna sandwich moved

• Street racers

• Secret FBI agency that only works with the best of the best

Dom’s positioning changed from being a man of the streets to being more exclusive and luxurious, as money no longer became an issue.

Competitors - The notorious Tran brothers… ("Too soon, Junior.”) & the Shaw family. 

Difference -

Whilst Dom is the best at what he does, being the best is a nearly impossible difference to have, especially if you are in the rag trade or tech industry. You might be the best today but somebody somewhere is working on a more sustainable organic cotton to lower the impact on the environment or creating a tech solution to make lives even easier.

Dom’s real difference is his code.

He only does what is best for the family. This is what makes him different and this is why I’ve invested enough into a fictional character to make a piece of Branding content about it. 

I think you are making your life very hard for yourself if you are a clothing brand that only makes clothes that you like. Given how easy it is to manufacture and sell clothing these days you need to be more than just a company that sells clothes. You need to stand for something.

And this is why Dominic Torretto has all the great foundations to make up a very solid brand strategy, resulting in a great brand. There are no surprises because you know what to expect from Dom, he doesn’t try to be something he’s not. You know what to expect from him in terms of his values, his quality of work and also how he goes about his business. You won’t find Dom or the Toretto family using any shady sweatshops paying well below minimum wage.

So there you have it.

Thanks for reading and remember "You can have any brew you want... As long as it's a Corona."

To still be reading, you either like branding or love The Fast and Furious franchise as much as me, if it’s the latter, you might enjoy this article on the Corona product placement. Read it here.

Thanks for your time and reading.