Brand Building Tips | How Boy Bands Built Brands Millennial Women Still Love

Growing up in the early 2000’s meant watching TRL after school and fawning over your favorite boy band member. But what made boy bands stand out amongst the Eminems, Limp Bizcuts and Kid Rocks of the time? How were these boy bands able to build a brand so many millennials still love?

The Early 2000’s Were a Special Time

Not only did we live in a time where having an internet connection in your home was a luxury, but if you did have it, it was slow and unreliable (ie picking up the phone and getting disconnected and then having to go through the torture of listening to AOL start up again). This meant that we got our information from the television.

There was a collective thing that we all did, every day at the same time and that was catch TRL after school for the newest music videos, song releases and updates on our favorite bands.

Yes, this meant that we were being fed the boy bands of the era (much thanks to Lou Pearlman), but what made them stand out to millennials at the time?

Was it young, hot men? Yes.

Was it charisma? Yes.

Was it the upbeat tempo and fun subject matter of the songs? Yes.

Was it the endless hip thrusting? Yes.

The REAL Reason We Became Obsessed with Boy Bands…

But most importantly, I believe it was the fact that the music made us feel seen. If you were anything like me, you were the outcast of the school, eating lunch in the bathroom alone because you had no friends. The thought of any boy looking twice at you was a long-shot, but the boy bands? They gave you hope.

You could escape into a world where YOU were the object of their affection. You were the girl of their “Liquid Dreams”; the one that was being professed love in “This I Promise You”; the one where nothing mattered “As Long As You Love Me”; YOU were the “Girl on TV.”

In other words, they were talking directly to YOU. Making you feel seen in a way that you hadn’t been before. And that’s a powerful way to feel for a teenage girl.

TRL allowed an escape. It allowed us to come home from a hard day at school and turn on the tv to find our crush of the week talking directly to us – and for that few minutes, everything seemed like it was going to be okay. The boy band era was special to millennial women because it gave us hope and it made us feel important. And honestly, that’s all anyone ever wants in life (it’s true – it’s psychologically proven).

What it means for us now, as adult women:

So while hip thrusts didn’t hurt, it wasn’t the reason we became obsessed. It was the fact that a few words from a guy who’d never look twice at you in real life (let’s be honest here) made you feel like you were the most important person in the world during the most formative years of your life. Yeah, that’ll do it.

And as a 40 year old woman, why am I so excited at the prospect of a Boy Band Cruise with O-Town, BB Mack, LFO and Chris Kirkpatrick of NSYNC? Because of the nostalgia. The feelings of being important and like I belong that come flooding back.

But why the f- am I writing an article about boy bands on a bookkeeping business’ page? Because it’s an important lesson in building a brand that people are obsessed with. I recently read Emily Hayward’s Obsessed and honestly, she should have just written an entire book about boy bands instead. If you want your business to stand out, make your clients and customers feel as important as Justin Timberlake made you feel when he told you it was gonna be him.

And if you want to listen to early 2000’s boy bands with me, I’ve created a playlist here.