The Reverse Pyramid of Telfar

Social accessibility as a growth strategy

This article was first run on The Sociology of Business

The reverse pyramid model is a revolutionary switch of the relationship between availability of something and its aspirational value. The model breaks from the established business and brand logic as it generates access to desirable products, taste, knowledge, and community in order to create economic value. This model powers growth in the de-industrialized markets.

The reverse pyramid model is not to be confused with the mass model, which relies on cost-effective production, wide distribution and economies of scale to saturate the market with a product. Accessibility of the reverse pyramid is social and cultural as much as it is economic.

The model is also not be confused with premiumization, which is often used by brands in order to add codes of status to a mass product in order to differentiate it from store brands and charge more for it.

The reverse pyramid model subverts the classic pyramid, where the social and cultural value is created at the top and then it trickles down to the base of the pyramid. The pyramid’s base is the most economically accessible, but the most creatively diluted.