With so many options at hand, brands are spending significant time, money and effort on creating content that sometimes fails to resonate with their target audience and build relevance in the long run. Crafting and sustaining iconic and culturally significant brands has never been a simple undertaking, but the rise of AI and the proliferation of content have further compounded this challenge—especially in a post-pandemic world where consumer attention is increasingly saturated and apathetic towards brand messaging.

If this sounds all too familiar, rest assured that you are not alone. As someone who has experienced these challenges firsthand, I understand the frustration. However, the key lies in recognizing your unique value and identifying the specific opportunities and tools to capitalize on.  

The challenge: navigating a million touchpoints.

In the current landscape, brands encounter two primary challenges when it comes to their marketing efforts. The first one stems from the fact that consumers now place a growing emphasis on authenticity and genuine connections. As a result, their scrutiny of brand content and positioning has escalated. The second challenge has to do with their structure. More often than not, brands’ marketing teams have become more divided and hyper-focused, often operating in isolation with their metrics and objectives, neglecting the broader organizational and long-term strategies.

These teams often operate with a narrow perspective of their responsibilities. Brand teams focus on placing advertisements during prime-time TV slots, while performance teams prioritize generating ROI and revenue. Unfortunately, they often lack awareness of how the other team’s efforts impact their own. On top of that, there are thousands of touchpoints between the TV commercial and the static conversion piece—and it’s very dangerous to ignore them.

Google calls these thousands of mini-steps the messy middle, that place where people are constantly exploring and evaluating different brands and communications, feeding their decision-making biases and buying behavior. According to the 2020 report, the messy middle is a space of abundant information and unlimited choice, where consumers have learned to use cognitive shortcuts to navigate. In the traditional conversion funnel, we usually call this stage consideration, but a lot of potential is lost in considering it a single phase, without the nuances of people’s real consideration behavior. 

Within the messy middle, there is an additional layer to consider when devising a marketing strategy. The consumption of content and media, in general, has changed a lot in the last two decades. What was once a futuristic notion, omnichannel has now become a tangible reality. Consumers now anticipate greater coherence and consistency between their digital and offline experiences. The democratization of content creation, largely propelled by platforms like TikTok, has resulted in audiences transitioning from mere consumers to content producers themselves (today, 41% of Gen Z identify as content creators). Lastly, the range of possibilities for content consumption has expanded exponentially, encompassing various screen sizes and often simultaneous use of multiple screens.

The solution: creativity and personalization take center stage.

Despite the challenges, brands and marketing professionals now have an abundance of resources at their disposal to navigate them and establish a strong strategic position. In a world gradually influenced by artificial intelligence and highly personalized media solutions such as Performance Max, creativity and diversity have become the main characters in a compelling brand narrative. 

Embracing fresh perspectives and harnessing them to fuel creative innovation can transform your brand into a powerhouse. Brands and professionals who skillfully tap into this potential will gain a competitive edge in the years to come. How? To begin with, they must develop a comprehensive content production strategy that aligns with the brand’s mission and values while resonating with the fundamental emotions of the target audience.

It may seem necessary for a brand to be present in every conversation at all times. However, this approach is not only untrue, but can also harm consistency and relationships with loyal consumers. The role of a seasoned and strategic marketing professional is to thoroughly comprehend the core pillars that distinguish the brand and determine where and how its voice will be effectively heard by consumers.

To be relevant today is not about being on every channel, using every format and taking a stance on every issue, but rather about being meaningful wherever you are. With viewers becoming more discerning, capable of deciding within milliseconds whether to engage with content or not, mere presence is insufficient. Brands must strive to be an integral part of the culture, and engage with matters that align with their purpose and target audience.

Cultural listening, a relatively new concept, involves the skill of extracting and reinterpreting behaviors observed in a variety of media, such as TikToks, tweets, Instagram posts, songs, series, and other online or offline content, from a specific community. The objective is to navigate and thrive within a dynamic and ever-changing culture influenced by diverse factors—just look at how quickly TikTok’s viral trends come and go—without losing the brand essence. 

In digital, social networks and content creators serve as powerful tools. They not only allow brands to gauge the cultural zeitgeist but also enable active collaboration with creators to evoke emotional connections and diverse perspectives, thus nurturing creativity. Offline, it is equally crucial to align with culturally relevant events like concerts and gatherings, since this sphere presents additional opportunities for brands to engage with the audience in a sensory and memorable way, fostering deeper communication and connection.

Every channel and touchpoint presents an opportunity to build a brand. At the end of the day, users don’t know the difference between brand and performance, they just know it’s brand communication and will judge it as such. The recipe for success lies in brand and performance teams working more and more closely together, exploring and learning together what the “messy middle” of the business is and how to guide consumers in their decision-making process. 

In the face of apathy, it is culture that brings the solutions that marketing teams seek, while creativity has the power to transform channels and formats into communication powerhouses. It is our responsibility to cultivate sensitivity and incorporate both culture and creativity into our short-, medium-, and long-term marketing planning.

For brands, navigating this audience-driven process can be challenging. While user-generated content flows freely, brands operate within controlled and limited environments. These spaces are often carefully curated, limiting the element of spontaneity. In contrast, viral content knows no bounds or restrictions, effortlessly traversing different media, platforms and even formats.

Considering style guides, risk management and other factors, it’s understandable that spontaneity may not come naturally to certain organizations. However, actively participating in the creation process can be the differentiating factor between a successful brand and one that no one has heard about. Let’s delve into the significance of content transformation and explore what brands should take into account to be involved in the creation process.

Content iteration serves as a means of social connection.

In today’s world, people establish connections by sharing content. We exchange memes, TikToks and all kinds of posts as a way to forge bonds, whether the goal is to showcase shared interests, convey emotions without relying on words, or simply bring joy to others.

What’s particularly fascinating to me is that when audiences can’t find the content they desire, they create it themselves—often drawing inspiration from others and then customizing it to suit individual needs. And just like that, everything we share digitally fulfills our creative, expressive and communal needs. It instills a sense of belonging, whether within a large or small community.

A great illustration of this phenomenon is the case of Cheems, who gained renewed attention following the unfortunate news of his demise. The Cheems meme initially originated from a photograph shared by its owner, which was then transformed into a meme by another user, who inspired a snowball of subsequent memes. Each one of those serves as an example of how content iteration has evolved into a significant mode of social connection—and it’s only natural for brands to strive to speak this language. While some may be hesitant, fearing it may divert from their brand identity, others have effectively integrated it into their content with great success.

Nostalgia becomes an opportunity.

When discussing how the public embraces a brand, it is impossible not to mention the remarkable phenomenon surrounding the Barbie movie. Not only did Barbie achieve unprecedented success at the box office and in marketing, but it also triumphed in generating user-generated content. Platforms like TikTok witnessed the audience embracing and replicating Barbie, with both critiques and praises of the movie, as well as the birth of numerous trends. Perhaps you've come across the viral TikTok trend where boyfriends surprise their partners with a Barbie doll as a gift, inviting them to watch the movie together.

Furthermore, songs from the soundtrack also gained significant traction on the platform. One notable example is Billie Eilish’s "What Was I Made For?" Initially, the content associated with the song revolved around the movie, featuring edited scenes and memorable moments. However, over time, the song evolved into a popular choice for sisterhood topics or introspective moments that resonate with people.

Barbie, along with other phenomena, opened doors for brands to engage in meaningful conversations and create captivating content. Opportunities like this demand that brands be quick and responsive, as these conversations take place at a specific, fleeting moment in time. Nevertheless, it’s important to mention that time constraints should not hinder a brand’s strategic approach. The Barbie/Oppenheimer collaborations, for example, garnered significant attention in certain markets, but it wasn’t well received by Japanese viewers.

That said, some brands successfully found the sweet spot, seamlessly intersecting the movie and their own brand identity. For instance, the post we created with KFC Mexico garnered an impressive organic reach of 1.7 million on Facebook, marking a 14.7-fold increase compared to the brand’s average regular posts.

From guilty pleasure to content vortex.

In Mexico, the reality show La Casa de los Famosos, produced by Endemol and broadcast by Vix and Televisa-Univision, became a powerful content generator. It was virtually impossible to avoid encountering related content when browsing any social network. TikTok and Reel edits seemed never-ending, spreading like wildfire through WhatsApp groups and even sparking face-to-face conversations. The edits evolved into filters and were accompanied by songs associated with the reality show.

As mentioned above, content iteration has become an integral aspect of the daily lives of younger generations, including millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha—the target audience that many brands, if not the majority, aim to connect with. This presents a unique opportunity for marketers to engage with their audience by providing platforms for self-expression and creativity.

To that end, the showrunners were skillful in choosing participants who already had a significant following on social media. In other words, they seized this opportunity by capitalizing on the contestants’ popularity to generate genuine interest, much like how brands partner with influencers who resonate with their target audience. As proof of the power of these connections, the winner of the show was initially propelled to fame by her ability to forge genuine connections with her fans through authentic and spontaneous live streams.

Overall, the surge was so overwhelming that brands using both paid and earned media attempted to capitalize on the phenomenon in one way or another. The objective was to intertwine their narrative with the ongoing conversation, effectively becoming an organic extension of the show’s cultural impact. This brings us back to the central premise of this article: your brand doesn’t truly come to life until people go beyond passive engagement and adopt it as their own.

Techniques for co-creating content (and culture) with consumers.

Recognizing that people are at the heart of content production is the first step. All consumers have the potential to be content creators, and this kind of "content anarchy" is what makes it a powerful communication medium.

However, this is where many brands face challenges. They struggle to propose and embrace consumer-generated content, as they are conditioned by rigid systems of meaning, values, visual identity and more. Brands often find it difficult to adapt and yield the spotlight in a landscape of flexible and adaptable content.

There are several mindsets that brands can adopt to co-create culture with their consumers while staying true to their values. Here’s a summary of what you need to consider:

• Be a team player, not just a player. See your audience as part of your team and become a team player. Allow people to take ownership of your brand, not just during a purchase but also in the content they want to consume and replicate.
• Be ready to iterate quickly. Consistency should not hinder your brand’s adaptability. While your brand holds meaning for the audience, that meaning is not fixed. Be swift in your ability to react and be part of ongoing conversations. Avoid exhaustive approval processes and explore the option of sharing user-generated content, as there is great value in the organic way your audience already relates to your brand. (Plus, it can help reduce production costs.)
• Think less like a brand and more like a person. Embrace the concepts of buildability and personification. Understand that the content the audience creates, even without a sales call-to-action, can be equally or more powerful in building your brand, as it reinforces memory structures among the audience. Also, keep in mind that platforms like TikTok demand a higher degree of humanity. Find the sweet spot between your brand’s essence or personality and the life stage of your audience, considering their behavior, self-expression and interests. Embrace imperfections, just as people do.

It all boils down to the question: why should brands behave as something static, rigid and inert, instead of reflecting the dynamism of culture? Brands are born and evolve within culture, which is alive and constantly transforming. By adopting a more dynamic approach, brands can better connect with their audience and co-create culture together.