The Life is Good Company started with a t-shirt and a smile. Founded by brothers Bert and John Jacobs, this American lifestyle brand built a loyal following with simple, optimistic messages and their iconic stick figure, Jake. But even beloved brands can lose momentum.
Despite a strong mission and widespread recognition, Life is Good reached a point where growth had stalled. The message of optimism remained powerful, but inside the company, inspiration was waning. They needed a way to reconnect with what made them great—not just in the eyes of consumers, but within their own team.
That’s where we came in.
When we began working with Life is Good, their leadership was looking for more than a marketing refresh. They needed clarity. The brand was at a crossroads, stuck in a cycle of incremental innovation and unsure of where to go next. They wanted to deepen their relationship with their customers and uncover new creative energy. Their goals were clear: identify their core values—what we call their “Super Powers”—understand their most devoted customers at a deeper level, and build a comprehensive brand and marketing playbook to guide the company forward.
We started by getting back to the basics: human nature. Using our proprietary Cult Branding framework, we helped the team rediscover the emotional foundation of their brand. Through a series of workshops and internal strategy sessions, we surfaced the core values that had fueled their early success. These values weren’t chosen from a list—they were uncovered from within. Optimism, courage, simplicity, and fun rose to the surface. These became the brand’s Super Powers. They reminded the team why they existed in the first place and gave the creative team a new lens through which to build the future.
Next, we turned outward and engaged directly with Life is Good’s most passionate customers—their Brand Lovers. Through in-depth interviews and story-driven research, we explored what Life is Good really meant to them. These were not just fans of the brand’s products. They were living embodiments of its values. We listened to their stories, their struggles, and their joys, uncovering a profound emotional connection that went far beyond cotton and ink.
These insights laid the foundation for a new strategy. We translated the findings into a clear, actionable brand playbook. This wasn’t a document meant to sit on a shelf. It was a living guide that inspired everything from new product lines to partnership opportunities. One of the most successful outcomes of the playbook was the creation of the Life is Good Festival, a real-world expression of the brand’s optimistic spirit. The festival didn’t just draw crowds—it created a shared experience for the brand’s community and deepened the emotional bond between Life is Good and its customers.
The results were immediate and lasting. The brand’s creative teams found new inspiration. Product development had a clearer purpose. Co-branding opportunities aligned more naturally with their mission. Most importantly, the brand’s connection with its audience grew stronger than ever. Life is Good didn’t just find its way forward. It rediscovered its soul.
As Bert Jacobs, Chief Executive Optimist of The Life is Good Company, put it:
“BJ Bueno and his team at The Cult Branding Company respect and understand what so many strategists miss: before we can be experts on products, sales, or the market, we must first be experts on human nature. They have a proven track record of building healthy, sustainable businesses for some of the best brands in the world.”
In the end, the path to renewed growth wasn’t about chasing trends or reinventing the wheel. It was about going inward, reconnecting with their purpose, and listening to the people who already loved them most. That’s the power of Cult Branding.