Cultural relevance might be more accessible than you think.

It’s not news to say that brands with cultural relevance outperform their peers. Tapping into popular culture – and doing it in a way that adds value – will deliver disproportionate returns on marketing investment. Plus it makes for great work that people enjoy (and that people enjoy working on). It’s win-win-win. 

So why aren’t more brands adopting this approach?

Of course there’s the challenge of building the right business case for how and why cultural relevance will deliver exponential growth. And whilst a very legitimate hurdle, I don’t think it’s the only one. For me there are other possible impediments, even for those with permission to follow a cultural relevance strategy.

At a most fundamental level many brands aren’t sure where in popular culture they can most authentically build a meaningful role (more on this at the end).

Another is fear of getting it wrong; no one wants to be the next Bud Light.

But a third is the misconception that to win in culture you have to do everything, everywhere, all at once – that you can’t ‘do’ culture unless it’s at a Barbie scale.

I am often asked about which brands are blurring the line between advertising and entertainment. I try to talk about specific work they might be familiar with to help show the wide spectrum of ideas at the intersection of communications and culture. But I recently spent some time thinking about the attributes of the examples I usually refer to in an attempt to better define the different approaches.

This thinking came up during a recent podcast interview in which I talked about ideas sitting in a four quadrant matrix and a few people have since told me they found it useful, so here’s a recap. On one axis, there’s Culture – from reflecting it to creating it. The other axis is about Communications, from more conventional to unconventional in format.

Conventional formats with true cultural insight

It feels the most accessible entry point is to develop stand out conventional communication that genuinely taps into culture. 

One example I often mention (especially in London!) is Nike’s 2018 campaign, ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ – a three minute “head-spinning ode to the capital” that features Skepta, Giggs, Harry Kane, Mo Farah, Dina Asher-Smith, Gareth Southgate, Little Simz, Alex Iwobi, Big Shaq and MC Grindah and more, as well as urban references from a barbershop to a basketball court and everything between. 

It’s a great piece of work, but I would argue you don’t have to be Nike with all the cultural cachet they have at their disposal to do this. Creating this kind of work is a question of choosing your creative partners, collaborators and advisers wisely. Although there’s nothing easy about this – for real insight into culture it's essential to tap into the knowledge and experience of practitioners who are living and breathing popular culture, from specialist insight firms, to bleeding edge creators. 

Reflecting culture unexpected and innovating ways 

Alternatively you could choose to reflect culture, but execute your communication in a less conventional format.

For me, the Nike brief could just have easily given rise to a piece of work like Spotify’s ‘Who We Be’ live music events at Alexandra Palace, which have helped build the brand’s credibility in the UK’s rap, hip-hop and grime world. 

In many respects it’s a strategy with similarities but executed in an experience rather than a film.   

This is a question, not just of resources (which Spotify obviously aren’t short of), but confidence that the field you’re playing on is authentically relevant both to your brand, and to your audience; that you can bring something of value to the time and place in which you’re inserting your brand.

Conventional formats that create a new cultural movement 

Moving across on the Culture axis is work that generates its own cultural impact. Ultimately this is about creation and conversation. A key attribute of the most successful work in this quadrant is it creates space for fans of the brand to feel part of it and allows them scope to be inventive themselves.

One example of this is McDonald’s‘ Famous Orders’ campaign. It began with a great truth that everyone (even the most rich and famous) have their McDonald’s order. But really went nuts when they collaborated with music superstar (and arguably one of the world’s most successful collaborators) Travis Scott. It was executed across a wide range of touchpoints but was anchored in-store with the Travis Scott meal (his regular order at his home restaurant in Houston).

The results were mind-blowing. From memes, to art, to fans selling McDonald’s promotional posters and receipts. The official merchandise became one of the most hyped ‘drops’ with items for re-sale at eye-watering prices on eBay. But most impressively, national sales of Quarter Pounders (the key meal ingredient) doubled and overall sales increased by 10%. There are even claims of an increase of $10bn to McDonald’s market cap.

Format busting, culture creating 

This is the kind of work I think many people first think of when they look for examples of brands operating in culture: the Barbie movie, or the Lego x Pharell collaboration. What brand wouldn’t want to dominate the cultural zeitgeist for weeks on end? 

To create this kind of impact is a long-term mission that can even ask companies to reconsider what business they’re in. It potentially demands a mindset shift which has to penetrate the whole organisation. Perhaps something along the lines of what Sir John Hegarty talks about in his recent article headlined, ‘fire your CMO, then appoint a chief entertainment officer’. 

He makes an excellent point, but it’s one that could easily persuade marketers that the cultural nut is just too tough to crack. That would be a pity. Culture has never been more vibrant, energised, eclectic and diverse. There have never been more ways to assimilate and analyse, understand and measure it (our AI powered tech platform CultureLab is making this possible in ways that were unimaginable just a couple of years ago). And artists and the entertainment industry have never been more willing to invite brands to be part of the action.

For brands who are bold enough: everything, everywhere, all at once. For everyone else: something, here now is a great place to start the journey. 

The rewards are there for the taking. For brands who are bold enough: everything, everywhere, all at once. For everyone else: something, here now is a great place to start the journey.