Say the words "surfing," "skateboarding," or "snowboarding" to a lay person and you will likely elicit thoughts and images of a rebel attitude, individuality, empowerment, and a dynamic culture and lifestyle. You will probably receive the exact same response when you mention to a teenager or young adult the names of leading active lifestyle brands, including Volcom, Quiksilver, Roxy, and Billabong.

If you dig even deeper, you will learn that many teens and young adults admit that they connect with active lifestyle brands on an emotional level and use them to express their aspirations of individuality and non-conformance as a lifestyle.

The lesson here is that active lifestyle brands, particularly the leaders within the category, have reached brand pinnacle status for a lifestyle-oriented brand—they are perceived as authentic representations of the lifestyle and values that they are attached to. For example, consider how Ralph Lauren's customers strongly believe that the legendary RL brand accurately symbolizes a posh and upscale lifestyle. Most so-called lifestyle brands never reach this brand pinnacle plateau because they are perceived to only promote a lifestyle, rather than truly symbolizing it.

While some active lifestyle brands have reached brand pinnacle status and captured the collective consciousness of the market they serve (predominantly teenagers and young adults), they have yet to register on the radar screen of the marketing community. Marketers, in their constant search for competitive advantage, focus primarily on emulating high-profile and universally known mega-brands such as Apple, Dell, Nike, and others.

The success of a brand, however, is not determined by how many people are aware of it, but how positive they feel about it. Or more specifically, a brand's success is determined by its ability to move consumers from rational purchase behavior, "I'm buying this good or service because it delivers these functional benefits" to, "I'm buying this specific brand over competitors simply because I love it." In this respect, active lifestyle brands are on par with today's most successful brands. Witness the millions of landlocked people who have never surfed, but are intensely loyal to the surfing-affiliated brands Quiksilver, Rip Curl, and O'Neill.

These loyal customers purchase active lifestyle brands not for what they are (their functional utility), but rather for what they represent. This representation transcends the product; namely t-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, sneakers, and other casual apparel items, and adds significant value to these goods. For example, a Quiksilver t-shirt isn't just a piece of clothing. It's a powerful symbol of surf culture. Bob McKnight, founder of the $1.4 billion-a-year surfwear company Quiksilver, states that his company "sells the look and attitude of hard-core surfers." This brand philosophy is comparable to that of the iconic brand Starbucks. The coffee giant has successfully transformed a simple coffee beverage into a high-end espresso drink that millions across the globe are willing to pay a premium price for.

The unique ability to transcend the product-only customer relationship is achieved because active lifestyle brands don't sell functional benefits (i.e., skateboarding sneakers that don't wear out) or benefits associated with sport, such as performance and achievement. Rather, they sell the emotional attachment to the desirable lifestyle of active sports and multiple core values inherent in this lifestyle.

The values include freedom, creativity, self-expression, independence, empowerment, and more. These values drive loyalty because they meet the deep-rooted emotional needs of consumers, particularly teens and young adults. Consider the successful branding for the city of Las Vegas. Las Vegas doesn't sell gambling or entertainment. It sells freedom and a "what happens here, stays here" attitude, which is highly desired by the target audience of young and middle-aged adults who want an escape from their normal everyday lives.

What sets active lifestyle brands apart from even the most successful brands is their ability to give customers an identity. This identity is delivered through the self-expressive benefits of the brand, which include the highly coveted identities and personality traits linked to the lifestyles of specific active sports (e.g., the young surfer who lives by his own rules, the daredevil skateboarder, and the athletic, confident, and empowered female snowboarder). Teens and young adults purchase active lifestyle brands in part to link the personality traits of the brand to their own identity.

By delivering both self-expressive and emotional benefits, active lifestyle brands make their common apparel goods more meaningful and valuable. If you're a parent of a teenager, you've almost certainly witnessed first-hand active lifestyle brands' ability to command a premium price for apparel that private label department store brands sell at half the price.

These premium prices extend to an assortment of non-apparel goods that active lifestyle brands have successfully attached their names to over the past decade. The products include jewelry, sunglasses, watches, and other "second-skin" goods—items that when branded, affect one's image and help one express a certain identity.

The growth opportunities even extend to second-skin items such as cell phones and other personal consumer electronics. For example, the junior girls surf-inspired brand Roxy recently attached its name to a Boost Mobile Nextel phone. With the exception of the large Roxy tattoo logo, the phone has no unique design characteristics apart from other Nextel handsets. However, the Roxy co-branded phone has been a tremendous success because it's perceived not as another tech gadget, but rather as a symbol of freedom, fun, individual expression, and other values inherent in the Roxy brand.

But maybe the most compelling evidence in favor of active lifestyle brands' significance and weight in the marketplace came recently in 2002, when Nike acquired the surf and skate-focused active lifestyle brand Hurley for over an estimated $100 million. Yes, even Nike, the ultimate "emotion brand," wants a piece of this lucrative active lifestyle brand industry. And they believe that the powerful Hurley brand will help them continue to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of teens and young adults throughout the world.

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Robert F. Hogeboom is Principle of BBP (Building Brand Preference) Marketing Group. He can be reached at Robert@BBP-Group.com. He also serves as Director of Marketing for Funtigo Corp., which owns and operates the popular teen-oriented online community and social networking site Piczo.com.