Huel’s smart community naming convention

Cards on the table: we're not the biggest fans of the term Hueligan.

But when a brand has people wearing their merch in public, you can't really argue with the results.

From the unboxing experience to their welcome email to the Idris Elba press release to their Reddit community, absolutely everywhere you go in Huel's world, you find an invitation to become a Hueligan.

And that's because they're not really selling meal replacements at all. They're selling an identity that you can opt into and say "this is who I am" to the world.

Really clever stuff.

Before we dive in, a bit of theory: Social Identity Theory tells us that the stuff we choose to buy  reinforces how we see ourselves or how we want to be seen.

The beer we drink, the car we drive, the laptop we use, the hat we wear... all these things (on some level) are about saying "this is who I am" to the world or to ourselves.

(In fact, research by Reed et al in the International Journal of Research in Marketing shows that when we buy a product or brand that aligns with our desired identity — AKA, who we want ourselves to be — we feel validated and are far more likely to become loyal customers and make repeat purchases. Pretty neat.)

And what's really clever about what Huel have done is that they've actively cultivated this idea of a Hueligan as a busy, driven individual that cares about their health and living their best life.

It's not about meal replacements or greens. It's not even really about macros and protein.

It's about Huel (and the Hueligan identity) becoming the brand that people use to tell the world who they are.

Peloton, Bold Bean Co, Lush, Glosier, Brewdog... all did something similar when they started out too.

Which poses an interesting question for your brand: if your customers were a tribe, what would they be called? What are customers buying your products to say about themselves? And how can you play into that?

We've written a full breakdown of how to find your brand's equivalent over on the blog!