When a brand taps into a cultural moment or captures a vibe, it can be a gamechanger. The return on investment can be huge, from Ryanair’s self-deprecating TikToks to the Duolingo owl to local legend Tina from Turners.
In a fragmented media landscape, broad-reach campaigns are becoming a challenge. Instead, successful brands are layering their message across multiple channels and diving into subcultures to win over passionate customers.
At a recent NZME/Publicis Groupe NZ Connected Talks event at the iHeartRadio Lounge in Auckland this week, local industry leaders came together in front of a media-savvy audience to discuss how brands become embedded in culture.
The experts agreed that it requires creativity, discipline and a cohesive strategy – but does not necessarily need an enormous budget or global clout, which is great news for Kiwi brands.
“Fifty percent of ads are less interesting than a cow chewing grass”
Every brand project should start with trying to add something of value to culture, said Mark Cochrane, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi NZ. When you’re adding value for your customers, they don’t mind seeing your brand on their channels – vital at a time when many of us actively avoid advertising.
Maurice Riley, Chief Data Officer ANZ at Publicis Groupe, said at the Connected Talks event: “Fifty percent of ads are less interesting than a cow chewing grass.” Some of his favourite branding comes from musicians who use traditional customer relationship management techniques to interact with their fandom. Fred Again, Beyoncé and Charli XCX excel at this, he said, as they stay closely in touch with fans to deliver tailored content that provides genuine value to their most passionate advocates.
“Collectives are really important. There’s a sense of belonging – people are wanting to be part of the collective,” said Cochrane. “We can lean into that. It’s right there, and it’s real.”
From Swifties to motorheads, cohorts can influence mass culture
Everyone has their own intersecting passions, whether it’s Taylor Swift, motorsport, food, skateboarding or the Real Housewives. Tapping into distinctive subcultures can be an effective way to build a culturally relevant brand.
“We talk about the retail impact of Stranger Things for brands; their futures changed overnight,” said Nicky Greville, Managing Director at Spark Foundry NZ, in the iHeart Lounge. She pointed to the recent collaboration between US clothing brand Gap and HBO TV sensation The White Lotus as an example of how a brand can transform its image instantly with the right cultural moment.
“Gap was a failing business that was closing down shops, and it’s back, baby. Overnight success. It’s an interesting way to look at the power of media. From a creative perspective, with that scale and immediacy you can resurrect brands. It’s so exciting; the audiences are phenomenally large.”
The Coldplay kiss cam affair: which brands got it right?
How fast can a cultural moment capture a phenomenally large audience? In just a few days, if you’re the couple in the Coldplay kiss cam video. When the caught-on-camera moment went global, brands were quick to jump on the story. Some responses were memorable, funny, and helped boost a brand. Others missed the mark, explained Dr Rebecca Trelease, Senior Lecturer in Critical Media Studies at AUT.
“One food brand had a billboard about ‘cheat day’, and okay, I can see the connection, but it doesn’t work. What worked was putting the LinkedIn ‘Open to Work’ icon on the guy’s face,” Trelease said at the Connected Talks event. “That’s a more natural connection to a big CEO. For a brand to have the ability to latch onto something and make it their own, it needs to make sense, otherwise you look like you’re just jumping on the bandwagon.”
Perhaps the most impressive response to the scandal came from Astronomer itself, the company where the pair were employed. It announced the resignations of the two individuals, and then released a funny, sharply-scripted video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, ex-wife of Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
“Astronomer felt confident enough to take control,” said Kat Day, General Manager for Herd MSL and Breakout Room. “They didn’t jump in as quickly as other brands. They waited; they stood back until it almost seemed like they’d left it too late – but then their response blew everyone else out of the water. If they’d said nothing, it would have been a wasted opportunity and possibly left the brand vulnerable. Instead, they’ve drawn a neat line under everything.”
Can your brand go ‘world famous in New Zealand’?
Most Kiwi brands won’t go as explosively viral as the kiss cam couple. But some local ideas do break through – ‘girl math’, Day pointed out, originated on a New Zealand radio show before achieving worldwide fame on TikTok.
It’s probably more realistic, though, to tailor a brand response to a local cultural moment and “go viral in New Zealand,” said Trelease. Kiwi audiences like to see brands tap into our unique cultural quirks, and our most recognisable brand campaigns all feature authentic characters: the families and couples showcased by the big banks and Telcos, and Tina from Turners.
Authenticity, knowing your audience, talking to your passion cohorts – these can all help your brand become famous in culture.
“Nobody wants to see ads, so you’ve got to be smarter,” said Greville in the iHeart Lounge. “Attention is elusive. You have mere seconds to grab it across multiple platforms – so your ideas must transcend.”