People are gravitating towards communities. Whether this is a shared love or appreciation for trendy, aesthetically appealing racquet sports, or teaming up for intense Hyrox competitions, there's a shift happening across cultural touchpoints.
It's not just Sunday-morning run-club meetups at Bo Bangkok over iced coffees; it's about how Bangkokians are seeking closer social connections than ever. It probably starts the fourth or fifth time you join a run club or seek the familiar faces at the tennis court. Committing to those early morning sessions becomes less about that runner's high and the kilometres earned and more about the ritual you're forming with a few friends you've made along the way. It's the shared experiences and inside Strava jokes, the post-run lattes and catch-ups and the grounding routine that bookmarks your weekends.
It's no coincidence that brands and businesses are rolling out words such as "authentic" and "community" more than ever, using them to lure potential customers with the promise of forming shared connections. Just this year, global coffee chain Blank Street, synonymous with Gen Z and their love for matcha, has announced a fundamental shift in strategy. Once hailed for its grab-and-go positioning, the chain has doubled down on being a "third space" for conversations, aptly named "conversation booths" for connections and productivity.
Community is the real currency in branding playbooks now, but if we strip away the marketing jargon and look at what's really going on, it's people finding their tribe and meeting their kind. If we take a deeper look into why this is, it highlights how people these days crave real, authentic connections. Ultimately, there are a plethora of brands worldwide, across pockets of the internet and the floors of well-lit department stores, so they need to appeal to consumers' human side.
This is the playbook that makes consumer loyalty stick.
Why else would American athleisure brands such as Alo host offline community events in Thailand? From tennis pop-ups to yoga sessions, the brand recently hosted a "wellness experience" morning at the luxury hotel Rosewood in Phuket, featuring yoga, padel and holistic living moments to strengthen both brands' positions as wellness leaders
Then, there's the Adidas Runners' Club in Bangkok, a public fitness community with weekly activities such as "Long Runs" in Lumpini Park and Strength Training sessions you can join. It's these little things that form connections and create a real sense of belonging; it's the sense of finding one's place that keeps people disciplined enough to set those early AM alarms.
Sports and recreational wellness are easily accessible rallying points. Padel, tennis, golf, pickleball, running and even something wholly intimidating like Hyrox share a deliberate profile. Each activity is accessible enough to have a low barrier to entry for beginners, aspirational enough to make you want to invest in upskilling, and, at its core, inherently social. You cannot play any of these sports alone; even Hyrox spectators are literally part of the event and viewers have to pay to go and watch. These natural interactions can create recurring rituals and shared experiences that ultimately hold meaningful friendships together. This is real sociology stuff: how groups come together amid shared social experiences and how brands can replicate that feeling beyond a 20-second Instagram clip.
Whilst it's still very much about fabric quality, the coffee beans and the overall aesthetic, relatability and shared values are also important to customers, especially Gen Z. Brands are expected to speak out about issues, are held accountable when they misspeak and generally have to be quick to position themselves. Like it or not, it's the new standard of rules. The new generation doesn't expect brands to be silent and demands they mean it. Businesses are held accountable and social media has made it that much easier to voice their thoughts. Gen Zs and younger millennials reward this with identity alignment, which, in turn, gives brands much more than one or two purchases.
In the age of social media and increasingly, an AI-dependent life cycle, in-person interactions matter more than ever. Granted, the current hype of intelligence machines such as Anthropic's Claude Cowork and a handful of other generative chatbots, from ChatGPT to Gemini that answer your daily queries, optimise your workflow, shave off hours spent doing comparative analysis and perfect decks make your life efficient just by opening up your laptop. This is all well and good, but human connections are still essential to mental health and well-being. What is a life thoroughly well lived and meaningfully spent, without layered human interactions and lived experiences? This, after all, is the real definition of the good life.
Niki Chatikavanij is the founder of BitesizeBKK, a digital news outlet. She can be reached at bitesizebangkok@gmail.com.
