Bring People Along for the Ride

A shift is happening in how people connect with brands, and it’s changing the way growth actually works.

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The finished product isn’t enough anymore.People want the process. The context. The tension. The decisions that shape something before it ever becomes “ready.” They want to feel included. Not as an audience watching from a distance, but as part of the build itself.

For years, marketing was built on control. You refined the idea. Polished the message. Held everything close until it was complete, then released it into the world fully formed.

Now, the brands gaining traction are doing the opposite.
They’re building in public. They’re sharing the in-between. They’re letting people see what it takes.

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And NEWS FLASH it’s working.

Roughly 90% of consumers say authenticity influences the brands they support, and over 70% say they want to feel a sense of connection before they buy. That connection isn’t built through perfection. It’s built through proximity.

Through access. Through transparency. Through letting people in early enough to care.

Some of the most relevant brands right now didn’t grow because they had the most polished launch. They grew because they brought people along.

Take Olipop. From early days, the brand leaned into education, formulation transparency, and founder storytelling, helping consumers understand not just what the product was, but why it existed. People weren’t just buying a soda. They were buying into a new category as it was being built.

Or Rhode, which consistently brings its audience into the product journey. From formulation conversations to packaging decisions to behind-the-scenes content, the brand builds anticipation by showing the work, not just the outcome.

Then there’s Skims, which has mastered the rhythm of inclusion. Product development, fit testing, campaign evolution, even restocks are part of a narrative people follow in real time. It’s not just a drop. It’s an ongoing story.

Outside of product, founders like Sara Blakely have long leaned into this approach. Sharing the realities of building Spanx, from early rejection to financial risk, created a level of relatability that traditional brand storytelling rarely achieves.

And more recently, founders like Alex Cooper have brought audiences directly into high-stakes business moments, including contract negotiations and platform shifts, turning what used to be private decisions into shared experiences.

Even brands navigating friction, like Liquid Death, openly document the pushback, the pivots, the risks. The humor and chaos are part of the brand, not something hidden from it.

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This isn’t about oversharing for the sake of content. It’s about intentional inclusion.

Letting people see direction before destination. Showing how decisions are made, not just what gets decided. Creating space for your audience to understand the build, not just consume the result.

Because when someone feels connected to the process, their relationship to the outcome changes. They don’t just buy it. They root for it.They talk about it. They bring other people into it.

That kind of trust doesn’t come from a single campaign. It compounds over time. There’s also a strategic advantage that’s easy to overlook. When brands build in public, they aren’t just marketing. They’re learning in real time.

They’re testing ideas before they’re fully formed.They’re seeing what resonates before they invest too heavily.They’re creating a feedback loop that sharpens the product, the messaging, and the direction as they go.

It’s not just visibility. It’s alignment. Consumers are more aware than ever.

They can feel when something is overly curated. They can tell when they’re being sold to instead of invited in. And the gap between those two experiences is where most brands lose momentum.

Because inclusion feels human. And people choose what feels human.This approach doesn’t require a bigger budget or a full content team.It requires a shift in how brands show up.

Less perfection. More presence. Less broadcasting. More building out loud.