Growth Hacking was an awful idea

By Mr. Market Brand has historically been considered an imprecise, flailing effort, only necessary once you hit a certain size and even then only vaguely impactful. But in the past six months, the studio I work at has seen an explosion in new interest, and our client portfolio now includes several companies people might assume are far too rational and PLG-focused to bother with brand. What's spurred these companies to suddenly make investments in wishy-washy concepts like trust, brand, and community? IMO, i