9 AGeneralTheoryAboutCoolness

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Aug. 11, 2017 
 
 
This technical note was prepared by Lalin Anik, Assistant Professor of Business Administration; Johnny Miles (MBA ’17); and Ryan Hauser, MBA 
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A General Theory of Coolness 
 
Coolness, by its nature, is ephemeral, elusive, and ever-evolving. People’s concept of cool might best be 
encapsulated by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stuart’s infamous phrase, “I know it when I see it.”1 In the 
marketplace, coolness excites consumers, steers purchase behaviors, and dictates trends.2 Coolness is something 
wanted by most and valued by consumers and marketers alike, but understood by few. 
What is Cool? 
Warren and Campbell highlight four observed properties of coolness:3 
1. Coolness is socially constructed. It is not something tangible in a product or brand, but something 
attributed to it by society4 
2. Coolness is subjective and dynamic. The things that consumers deem cool change over time and differ 
across consumers5 
3. Coolness is perceived to be a positive quality;6 Sometimes it is synonymous with “I like it”7 
4. Coolness extends beyond “good”8 
The current note focuses on the fourth point. Specifically, we seek to understand and describe the qualities 
that cause a cool product, brand, or person to be something more than simply a “good” one. 
 
1 Peter Lattman, “The Origins of Justice Stewart’s ‘I Know It When I See It,” Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2007. 
2 Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998); Joseph 
Heath and Andrew Potter, The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can’t Be Jammed (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2004); John Leland, Hip: The History (New York: Ecco, 
2004); Malcolm Gladwell, “The Coolhunt,” New Yorker, March 17, 1997, 78–87. 
3 Caleb Warren and Margaret C. Campbell, “What Makes Things Cool? How Autonomy Influences Perceived Coolness,” Journal of Consumer 
Research 41, no. 2 (2014): 543–63. 
4 Russell W. Belk, Kelly Tian, and Heli Paavola, “Consuming Cool: Behind the Unemotional Mask,” in Research in Consumer Behavior, vol. 12, ed. Russell 
W. Belk (Emerald Group Publishing Limited: 2010), 183–208; Leland; Marlene Kim Connor, What Is Cool? Understanding Black Manhood in America (New 
York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1995); Lauren Gurrieri, “Cool Brands: A Discursive Identity Approach,” ANZMAC 2009: Sustainable Management and 
Marketing Conference Proceedings, 2009. 
5 Marcel Danesi, Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence (Toronto: University of Toronto Press: 1994); Lewis MacAdams, Birth of the Cool: Beat, Bebop, 
and the American Avant-Garde (New York: Free Press, 2001); K. A. O’Donnell and D. L. Wardlow, “A Theory on the Origins of Coolness,” ACR North 
American Advances, January 2000. 
6 Heath and Potter; Sara Bird and Alan Tapp, “Social Marketing and the Meaning of Cool,” Social Marketing Quarterly 14, no. 1 (2008): 18–29; Dick 
Pountain and David Robins, Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude (London: Reaktion Books, 2000). 
7 Belk, Tian, and Paavola. 
8 Leland; MacAdams. 
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The word “cool” may have originated in the 1920s jazz scene in the United States, and it captured a sense 
of originality and fashion.9 It was believed to be first embodied by black musicians who resisted racial prejudice 
and exclusion by embracing their own slang, use of drugs, and sense of detachment from a restrictive society.10 
At the same time, phrases like “keep cool,” “play it cool,” and “cool out” entered the language, referring to the 
need for black Americans to keep their temper in the face of white provocations. Later, in 1960s and 1970s, 
with the rise of the liberal movement and counterculture, along with anti-Vietnam protests and civil unrest, 
cool was associated with antiestablishment and hedonistic acts. Only then did cool enter the life of the masses.11 
Similarly, coolness trends typically start with a countercultural group with autonomous goals outside of the 
normative goals of society (e.g., African Americans, musicians, teenagers, hippies, punks, ravers, and 
bohemians) who undertake new non-normative behavior. “This willingness to pursue one’s own course 
irrespective of the norms, beliefs, and expectations of others”12 constitutes the autonomy component of coolness, 
though this is not enough on its own. 
To be cool, this autonomy needs to be authentic; that is, the autonomous behavior needs to be sincere and 
real—congruous to the person or company’s true values. If the behavior is simply an attempt to dupe peers 
into viewing you in a certain light or consumers into buying a product, people will notice, and there will be a 
backlash. 
Lastly, one needs to have the right attitude throughout the process. The coolness of authentic autonomy is 
marred if one appears to be trying too hard to achieve it. The coolest authentic autonomy is done with 
confidence and an outward ease. To embody this in our theory, we turn to the attribute of sprezzatura, an Italian 
term for studied effortlessness. 
Thus we present the general theory of coolness as a merger of three indispensable traits: (1) autonomy, 
(2) authenticity, (3) attitude, and a fourth trait, association, which is helpful but not essential. 
Trait 1: Autonomy 
Description 
This is arguably the number-one dimension of coolness, referring to lack of conformity, and to 
unconventionality, rebellion, individuality, and independence. In other words, people or brands high in 
autonomy are those who do their own thing, which often goes against the expectations of others. The 
autonomous ones challenge and deviate from social norms. Indeed, while norms serve as standards of 
appropriate behavior,13 and norm violators risk creating negative impressions14 and losing social standing,15 
there are some cases wherein behaving autonomously leads to more favorable impressions.16 
 
9 Pountain and Robins. 
10 Harry Shapiro, “Dances with Drugs: Pop Music, Drugs and Youth Culture,” in Drugs: Cultures, Controls and Everyday Life, ed. Nigel South (London: 
SAGE Publications Ltd., 1999), 17-35. 
11 Frank. 
12 Warren and Campbell. 
13 Robert B. Cialdini and Melanie R. Trost, “Social Influence: Social Norms, Conformity, and Compliance,” in The Handbook of Social Psychology, 4th 
ed., ed. D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998); P. Wesley Schultz, Jessica M. Nolan, Robert B. Cialdini, Noah J. 
Goldstein, and Vladas Griskevicius, “The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms,” Psychological Science 18, no. 5 (2007): 
429–34. 
14 Elliot Aronson, The Social Animal (New York: Worth Publishers, 2008); Stanley Schachter, “Deviation, Rejection, and Communication,” Journal of 
Abnormal and Social Psychology 46, no. 2 (1951): 190. 
15 E. P. Hollander, “Conformity, Status, and Idiosyncrasy Credit,” Psychological Review 65, no. 2 (1958): 117. 
16 Dan Ariely, and Jonathan Levav, “Sequential Choice in Group Settings: Taking the Road Less Traveled and Less Enjoyed,” Journal of Consumer 
Research 27, no. 3 (2000): 279–90; Silvia Bellezza, Francesca Gino, andAnat Keinan, “The Red Sneakers Effect: Inferring Status and Competence from 
Signals of Nonconformity,” Journal of Consumer Research 41, no. 1 (2013): 35–54. 
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For example, Ariely and Levav examined food and beverage selections and found that individuals vary their 
choices from the selections of other members of their group in order to present self-uniqueness.17 Likewise, 
Bellezza, Gino, and Keinan found that in the domain of fashion, people confer higher status and competence 
on nonconforming individuals (e.g., those who wear sweats into a luxury boutique or red sneakers in a 
professional environment).18 Autonomy can thus be cool in and of itself, irrespective of the inherent coolness 
of the underlying behavior (e.g., ordering a beer different from your neighbor’s or wearing red shoes). 
When individuals pursue coolness, whether in their purchases or in their personality, they are making a 
statement of differentiation from—if not outright rebellion against—social norms. The rejection of normative 
goals signals to onlookers that these individuals’ intentions and actions are autonomous and sincere, and could 
even communicate that they or the brand is cool enough to pull off this deviation. 
Examples 
 Compare artists who “sell out” and stop producing the music they want to make and instead make 
music for the mainstream with artists who stay true to their own desires, shunning mainstream norms. 
Some artists even turn down multi-million-dollar record deals to keep creative control, the ultimate 
(cool) sign of autonomy. 
 Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat rejected the conventions of minimalism, prevalent in art during his time, 
opting instead for a neo-Expressionist style with pop-culture and graffiti influences, which collectors 
quickly recognized as new, brilliant, and cool. 
 In an especially grand act of remaining autonomous from mainstream norms, Jean-Paul Sartre, a 
French philosopher and novelist, rejected the 1945 Nobel Prize for Literature, citing that, “the writer 
must refuse to let himself be transformed into an institution.” Sartre was usually followed by paparazzi, 
who clearly picked up on how cool he was. 
We should note here that in order to be cool, it is important to break the right rules. For example, Virgin 
broke the inflexible, boring model of airlines by being animated, funny, and almost too good to be legal. 
Breaking the wrong rules, on the other hand, can be perceived as distasteful or offensive. 
It is important to acknowledge that the autonomy that is essential to coolness is bounded.19 That is, to be 
effective in the realm of coolness, autonomy cannot be too high nor too low. Very low autonomy results in 
something that is still mainstream and uncool, but total autonomy or rebellion from the norm can be polarizing 
and abrasive. 
Examples 
 Think of a musical artist or author who appeal to mass audiences (low autonomy). These individuals, 
while creating for the lowest common denominator, tend to create things that are expected, clichéd, 
and simply “okay.” 
 Now think of a musical artist who has complete disregard for current musical conventions and tastes 
(high autonomy), and makes music where he randomly hits instruments without rhythm. Picture an 
author who rejects authorial norms and writes gibberish all over the page. These individuals, while 
autonomous, have gone too far, and will likely not succeed. 
 
17 Ariely and Levav. 
18 Bellezza, Gino, and Keinan. 
19 Warren and Campbell. 
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Additionally, autonomous behavior tends to work best when it is viewed as autonomous from an 
illegitimate (rather than legitimate) norm. If consumers deem a norm as unnecessary, arbitrary, or harmful, then 
a rejection of that norm is viewed more favorably than if the norm is viewed as socially beneficial.20 
Examples 
 Ravers are more likely to reject antidrug messaging, citing the underlying norm as illegitimate.21 
 Alcohol companies may have a hard time convincing certain religious sects to rebel against the alcohol-
abstinence norms of their social circle that they view as very legitimate. 
Lastly, it is important to note that a “cool” product does not necessarily mean a “good” product, and having 
a cool product, or marketing a product as such, will not work for every product category. Cool products succeed 
in environments where the consumer is looking to reject normative conventions and stand out. For example, 
in some specific categories, mainstream norms are preferred. Consumers want their Q-tips, Band-Aids, and salt 
to come with few, if any, surprises. 
What can companies do? 
While boundaries can be pushed and norms disregarded, they cannot be pushed too far or disregarded 
completely. Companies trying to capture coolness need to strive for a bounded autonomy that is at least as 
effective as the norm. 
When putting out a new, divergent product, companies need to make sure the product is at least as good 
as the mainstream norm. If it is, then autonomy may work; if it is not, then there is little hope for the product. 
When putting out marketing communications, companies looking to embody coolness should ask themselves 
if they are going far enough beyond conventional, mainstream norms. Does the communication assert the 
company’s own core values, or does it convey normativity? Companies also may want to do their best to keep 
their brand from seeming too popular or mainstream (e.g., what has happened to Starbucks). 
Marketers might consider advertising that focuses on the originality and nonconformity of the product 
(e.g., Apple’s “Think Different,” Adidas’ “Celebrate Originality,” Jack Daniels’ “We never follow the crowd. 
But they’re always welcome to stop by,” and Tabasco’s “We don’t bother keeping up with the Joneses”22). 
Conversely, organizations trying to curb a “cool” behavior (e.g., truth’s antismoking campaign) may actually 
want to make the behavior seem more prevalent, and thus mainstream and less cool—though this must be 
carefully done to avoid peer effects. 
Ultimately, autonomy is a balancing act—too little and you look like a mainstream sellout; too much and 
you risk polarization and an inferior product or message. However, companies that can hit the sweet spot will 
possess an air of autonomous coolness. 
Trait 2: Authenticity 
Description 
To be authentic is to act and carry yourself in a way that is true to your own personality and character. As 
highly sophisticated social beings, we are adept at reading subtle clues to determine whether someone is “being 
 
20 Warren and Campbell. 
21 Sarah Thornton, Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995). 
22 Warren and Campbell. 
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themselves” or trying to pass as something they are not. If we can determine real authenticity in a person, we 
are far more likely to be drawn to them, even if their character and interests differ from ours. In addition, 
people seem to have an innate repulsion toward behavior that comes across as disingenuous or fake. 
Our social antennae are equally perceptive when it comes to marketing and advertising of products. When 
a company pursues coolness, or any other desirable attribute, we naturally look for cues, whether from history, 
advertising, or our peers to check if the brand is misrepresenting itself or its products.While simply being 
authentic is not enough to achieve outright coolness, either for a person or a product, it remains an 
indispensable ingredient in that ineffable quality. 
Examples 
 Authenticity as a prerequisite for coolness can most easily be understood in the context of music. Many 
of Western culture’s coolest and most universally revered individuals are musicians. This has been true 
throughout generations, whether it was Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra in the 1950s and 1960s, Janis 
Joplin and Mick Jagger in the 1960s and 1970s, Prince and Madonna in the 1980s, Kurt Cobain and 
Gwen Stefani in the 1990s, or Kanye West and Adele in the 2000s and beyond. In addition to the 
coolness garnered by these musicians’ appealing, rebellious attitudes and their genuine autonomy as 
real artists, we bestow coolness on these musicians because we respond powerfully to the authenticity 
of their music. Music, in all its forms and on its most elemental level, is a powerful tool for conveying 
and eliciting emotion. As a result of our sophisticated social intelligence, we are always subconsciously 
evaluating the emotion inherent in a piece of music and evaluating whether that feeling is conveyed 
authentically. When we hear a song that delivers raw, genuine emotion, whether it’s “Satisfaction” by 
the Rolling Stones or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, we are remembering the passions that have 
ignited generations. It’s no surprise then that we regard musicians—that is, those who authentically 
convey their emotions through their instruments and songs—as the paragons of cool. 
 As an everyday example that may hit close to home, consider networking events at which there are 
always those people who have the tendency to look past others, scanning the room for better 
opportunities during a conversation, while feigning interest through nods and smiles. These individuals 
can come across as disingenuous or fake very quickly to their conversation partner, who may quickly 
be turned off. 
What can companies do? 
While an authentic person can be authentically negative (“I’m real,” “I’m blunt,” “I am who I am—take it 
or leave it,” and so on), companies do not have this luxury—an authentic brand needs to be perceived positively 
in order to succeed. This means providing its consumer with positive products, experiences, and messaging 
that are complementary to their brand’s true core values. 
It is important to stress that these are true core values, not fabricated core values. There are numerous 
examples of companies appealing to consumers using messaging completely antithetical to what their brand 
represents, resulting in consumer criticism. For example, in 2005, Hollister Co. had to pay damages to Robb 
Havassy, a surf artist, after creating more than 300 knockoffs of signed Havassy surfboards for use as decoration 
in its stores. Hollister, a clothing brand not affiliated with surfing but trying to falsely claim the coolness of surf 
culture, was called out and harangued in the media over the incident. 
Such attempts are disingenuous ways to attract consumers, and when the truth is revealed, there is typically 
consumer backlash against the trickery. Therefore, it is best and cooler for companies to be straight and 
authentic with consumers. 
 
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Trait 3: Attitude 
Description 
While authentic autonomy can lead to coolness, the effort to achieve the quality may fail if the actor does 
not possess the right attitude throughout the process. In something akin to a catch-22: actors cannot look as 
though they are trying to be cool, as this is decidedly uncool to do. Instead, actors want to carry an attitude that 
is a combination of confidence and sprezzatura, which captures in a word the idea of the casual effortlessness. 
Confidence is synonymous with self-assurance. Coolness at its core is an act of rebellion against the 
mundane, and in order to make such a statement, whether through your action, personality, or consumption, 
you need the credibility that can only come from confidence. Without that self-assurance, an act of rebellion 
will be disregarded as unsuccessful, disingenuous and therefore unworthy of attention. We all have an innate 
understanding of this from our childhoods and adult lives. Certain people are able to pull off things that others 
cannot. What truly differentiates those who are cool is an underlying confidence that compels others to accept 
their personality, actions, and possessions as cool. 
Coolness more often than not requires skill and significant preparation or forethought, but advertising the 
effort required ultimately diminishes others’ perception of coolness. Since, in social interactions, the underlying 
traits of others cannot be directly observed, they must be inferred indirectly through behavior.23 This creates a 
dynamic wherein a perceiver’s fundamental task is to infer the causal antecedents of an actor’s action. In the 
realm of coolness, this can have important implications. If the perceiver determines that the actor looks cool 
because he is trying very hard to be cool, then authenticity is questioned, and the façade of cool is broken. 
However, if the actor can appear cool effortlessly, the air of coolness remains intact. 
This is why sprezzatura can be an integral piece of coolness. However much one cares and puts much 
attention into the act of coolness, the behind-the-scenes effort must not be displayed, lest it be picked up on 
by a perceptive peer. Sprezzatura can refer to the design of a product, as well. The coolest designs, especially 
in the art, architecture, and fashion worlds, are so organic that they seem intuitive, and yet years might have 
been spent crafting them to perfection. It is ultimately not important how much effort, time, or resources have 
gone into a product or person as long as the execution appears effortless and natural. 
Examples 
 As a hackneyed example, when the captain of the high-school football team wears his varsity letter 
jacket to school, he achieves far more coolness than a nonathletic type, on whom the identical jacket 
comes across as inappropriate and desperate. 
 Mastering surfing takes years of training and rigorous athleticism, and yet the best surfers stand on the 
board as if they are casually leaning on a bar. 
What can companies do? 
Companies looking to be cool need to project the same air of effortlessness that the best surfer does, which 
necessitates both taking initiative and avoiding certain actions discussed below. 
In terms of displaying a positive attitude, it would help companies if their products are perceived to be 
authentic and their marketing is aligned with this authenticity. Take Topo Designs, for example. The company 
is based in Colorado, where outdoor activities are extremely popular, and the state’s perception is that its 
 
23 Edward E. Jones and K. E. Davis, “A Theory of Correspondent Inferences: From Acts to Dispositions,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 2, 
no. 1 (1965): 219–66. 
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residents love hiking, climbing, and skiing. Producing hip bags for outdoor activities in particular that are simple, 
colorful, and functional fits well with Colorado. Topo Designs’ attitude is further strengthened by its limited 
and focused collection, which signals that the company is not distracted by other markets and that it does what 
it does well (produce equipment for everyday outdoors enthusiasts). It uses photos of its target audience wearing 
their gear in nature and limits its marketing to social media and e-mail presence.The whole package signals that 
Topo Designs doesn’t need to try harder; it is what it is. 
On the other hand, many companies today exhibit what is the equivalent of antisprezzatura, trying hard to 
come across as cool or hip in all-too-obvious ways. This seems especially true of companies on social media 
that go to great lengths to use the hip slang of Millennials, using words like “bae,” “fam,” and “lit” on their 
official company accounts. It is no surprise that Trident’s “Woke up like this” meme combined with a Snapchat 
screen made it to the list of ads that failed at being cool. This pandering is evident to consumers, and comes 
across as too effortful at best and cringeworthy at worst. 
One could also make the case that for many companies, simply being active on social media is a step too 
far—an example of companies trying to cash in on current mainstream trends, even when those trends are 
fairly removed from their own organizational goals. For example, does Morton salt need a Twitter presence? 
Does the Band-Aid brand need an Instagram account? Not only do these attempts look far too obviously like 
pandering, but they waste company resources (at the time of this writing, the aforementioned accounts have 
1,913 and 323 followers, respectively). 
The same can be said of marketing materials concluded with “Like us on Facebook!” This message is 
almost the antithesis of sprezzatura and comes across as almost desperate. 
Marketers need to think hard about how their communications will come across to consumers. Will they 
look effortless and natural, or will they seem like obvious attempts at being relevant? If it’s the former, that’s 
sprezzatura; if it’s the latter, that’s uncool. 
Trait 4: Association 
Description 
Coolness can be imbued (although it is not a necessary precondition for coolness) through association with 
an existing brand, place, or person who has already attained cool status. This is a far quicker and easier path for 
establishing coolness in a product or person than building an organic movement from scratch. 
Examples 
 Celebrities are often seen as arbiters of coolness, likely because actors in Hollywood are especially 
skilled in crafting personas in their work, which inevitably spills over into the construction of their 
personal identities. In addition, because there are usually such preconditions to celebrity as 
attractiveness and charm and we easily perceive these traits when we consume entertainment, we 
naturally conclude that these actors would be desirable to have as companions. Therefore, when a 
celebrity uses a product, they can magically transmit their coolness to that product, unless it is blatantly 
obvious that they are marketing it for personal gain (see the “Autonomy” section). Even then, celebrity 
advertising is a proven, successful marketing tactic. 
 The ultimate example of the transference of coolness from individual to item comes from Steve 
McQueen. A handsome, aloof, and wildly popular actor in the 1960s and 1970s, McQueen was dubbed 
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the King of Cool.24 Despite the fact that he has been dead for nearly 40 years, companies still use his 
name to sell cars and sunglasses. 
 Certain places or activities can achieve a nationwide perception of coolness and then imbue related 
products with a similar coolness. 
o Brooklyn, a previously working-class borough of New York, has become an epicenter for the 
movement toward more locally made products. Indeed, the borough has become a brand in and 
of itself. 
o Basketball, with its flashiness, rhythm, and fan intimacy with the players (close quarters, no 
equipment to block facial expressions), is a sport that typically imbues coolness on any product 
associated with it, especially shoes. 
What can companies do? 
For companies trying to achieve coolness by association, choosing the right celebrity for their product or 
brand to be associated with is vitally important. Celebrities all have different personas and a fit between product 
and promotor must be seen as natural and authentic. Toby Keith makes for a far more effective promotor of 
Ford trucks than Lady Gaga. George Clooney sells Nespresso more authentically than Kanye West might. 
Furthermore, since coolness is a cycle (see the “How can cool change?” subsection under “Discussion”), 
companies need to be aware of where those they associate their brand with are on their own coolness cycle, 
especially regarding their target demographic. “Has Kanye gotten too popular to properly represent the 
countercultural cool image we’re hoping to associate ourselves with?” “Is Green Day now too mainstream to 
promote our punk fashion line?” “Who is an up-and-coming artist who can represent us before he or she 
becomes too conventional?” If they are trying to project an air of cool, these are the questions marketers need 
to ask themselves when considering who to associate their brand with, and when. 
Discussion 
While this note focuses on what makes a person, behavior, product, or brand cool, it is necessary to 
understand that coolness is inherently unstable. Coolness changes; it ebbs and flows. What was cool last month 
might be not be cool anymore. What is cool today may become decidedly less so in the next week. So to next 
focus on this volatility of coolness it is important to look at things that diminish coolness and at how coolness 
can change over time. 
What takes away from coolness? 
Lack of functionality: while autonomy is cool, the divergent behavior or product needs to be at least as good 
as a mainstream alternative in order to succeed. Negative and even valueless divergence is typically viewed by 
consumers as inappropriate.25 That is, if a product is so divergent as to become more impractical or more 
difficult for a consumer to understand or integrate into their lives than the current status-quo alternative, then 
the product will not be viewed favorably. 
 
 
 
24 Ben Cosgrove, “LIFE with Steve McQueen: Photos of the King of Cool in 1963,” TIME, November 5, 2014. 
25 Teresa Amabile, “A Consensual Assessment Technique,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43 (1982): 997–1013; James E. Burroughs and 
David Glen Mick, “Exploring Antecedents and Consequences of Consumer Creativity in a Problem-Solving Context,” Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 
no. 2 (2004): 402–11. 
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Example 
 Spherical water bottles reject mainstream norms (and look quite cool) but they are impractical. To 
succeed, they need to be at least as good as current water bottle designs, which they are not. 
Identity threat: a product cannot be so divergent that it threatens consumer identity to the point where they 
are embarrassed to use it. This is true of low-self-esteem consumers, who are far more likely to avoid choosing 
a product associated with a threatened facet of identity than high-self-esteem consumers.26 Consumers have 
certain goals about what they want their products to say about who they are as people, and any product that 
diverges from the status quo so far as to become embarrassing to use will also not succeed. Indeed, companies 
can measure how embarrassingly uncool a brand is using a scale that has previously revealed that while Ed 
Hardy was seen as cheap and tacky, Adidas was just the opposite: cool and wanted.27 
How can cool change? 
As mentioned in the introduction, coolness trends typically start with countercultural group with 
autonomous goals outside of the normative goals of society who undertake a new non-normative behavior. 
Consumers who are high in counterculturalismconsider high levels of autonomy to be appropriate, and so are 
more okay with engaging in autonomous behavior.28 As more counterculturalists engage in the behavior, the 
critical mass for other, less countercultural individuals is hit, and they subsequently join in engaging in the 
behavior. This process continues as individuals who are less and less countercultural join in the behavior in an 
attempt to be cool.29 
This behavior may be cool for some time, but when the behavior becomes so prevalent that it is normative 
and adopted by noncountercultural individuals, it is then mainstream and no longer cool. 
Examples 
 This pattern is typical of slang. Think of using “OMG” and “LOL” when texting—it was cool until 
parents started doing it. This is an example of how something can become cool by leveraging one of 
the traits (autonomy) and then become uncool by violating another trait (association). 
 Liking an underground music artist who then gains mass popularity and commercial success. 
Additionally, when environments change rapidly (e.g., via economic shocks or boons or political unrest or 
change), the above cycle can speed up, as people try to reach stability, unite together, or rebel against the current 
power or government through their self-expression (i.e., through their consumption). During these critical 
moments, the importance of cool can change drastically. In these intense settings, things that were previously 
uncool can quickly become cool, and vice versa. 
Example 
 For a majority of the political left under Barack Obama’s presidency, the normative action was support 
for the president. However, after the election of Donald Trump, it didn’t take much time for opposing 
the president (often vehemently) to become cool, at least for many liberals. This stems from the 
 
26 K. White and J. J. Argo, “Social Identity Threat and Consumer Preferences,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 19, no. 3 (2009): 313–25. 
27 Madeline Buxton, “Researchers Are Now Able to Measure Just How Embarrassing an Uncool Brand Is,” Mic, December 11, 2015, 
https://mic.com/articles/130147/researchers-are-now-able-to-measure-just-how-embarrassing-an-uncool-brand-is#.T8VPpsAQ1 (accessed Jul. 31, 
2017). 
28 Warren and Campbell. 
29 Gladwell. 
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autonomy trait, discussed above, whereby liberals viewed the norm of Trump as president as 
illegitimate, and thus cool to rebel against. 
In order to keep up with the changing cool, marketers need to keep communicating with their target 
audiences and keep tabs on the changing trends. In 1990s, it was the coolhunters who as “cultural spies” were 
known to “penetrate the regions of the teen landscape where corporations weren’t welcome.”30 They predicted 
future cool by interviewing trendsetters at clubs, skate parks, and other hip places. Today, although the term 
coolhunting is not used as often, the idea is still prevalent and achieved through diverse methods ranging from 
interviews and focus groups to netnography, from single-question surveys to data mining in big datasets. 
Whatever the method might be, understanding and predicting the four dimensions of coolness is critical to 
keeping up with the changing world. 
Conclusion 
The challenge for marketers who are looking to imbue their product with coolness is that by its very 
definition, coolness must grow organically or at least be perceived that way. People are particularly attuned to 
companies trying to exploit coolness to drive sales, and if marketers meddle too directly in their efforts to create 
coolness, it can often backfire and decrease public perception of a product or brand. Only the most nuanced 
and creative marketing will still allow a product to be perceived as autonomous, which is a precondition for 
cool. This is why marketers are increasingly turning to key influencers, people whose good taste is accepted and 
referenced within a subculture, to more subversively advertise specific products as ones that they “discovered” 
and think highly of. This is coolness by association, as long as the perception of autonomy remains. Also, 
marketers are all driven by the same goal—to drive sales—and success in sales can often make a product too 
pedestrian. As mentioned, when something becomes so popular that it is normative and adopted by 
noncountercultural individuals, it is usually then viewed as mainstream and no longer cool. It is rare for a 
product (like the Apple iPhone) to be both cool and ubiquitous. 
As humans, we are hardwired to seek the admiration of our peers so that we can build our social networks. 
To differentiate ourselves and create a perception that we are worth associating with, we naturally pursue 
coolness through our behavior and our consumption. While the association of coolness can be a wildly 
successful way to sell a product, chasing it is not without risks. Marketers must be cautious in their efforts to 
imbue their product with coolness so that, despite corporate interference, they can maintain the sense of 
autonomy and attitude that are preconditions to coolness. Much like the notion of sprezzatura, the best 
marketing is the result of hard work that appears totally natural and effortless. 
 
 
 
 
30 “Merchants of Cool,” Frontline, Public Broadcasting System, February 27, 2001. 
This document is authorized for use only in Pilar Rojas Gaviria's PRE-18 Mercados I (3) course at Pontificia Universidad Catolica Chile (PUC-Chile), from March 2018 to September 2018.