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.

Fans have new expectations.

• They demand streaming options & a diverse media ecosystem, completely bypassing traditional sports coverage.
• They are seeking increased avenues for interaction with the games themselves, desiring immersive experiences that go beyond mere spectatorship.
• They also crave more opportunities to engage directly with their favorite players, fostering a sense of connection and intimacy. A dunk isn’t enough, they want to get to know Lebron.

We’ve identified key changes in Gen Z sports preferences in the areas of Consumption, Participation, and Human Values. And we’ve added recommendations and real-world examples for each from McLaren Racing, the NBA and more.

We’re Experience.Monks.

As experts in brand experience design, we work to elevate and innovate your brand through every single consumer touchpoint. We are your consultancy, agency and production arm all in one, specifically designed to help modern brands looking to disrupt, differentiate, and innovate everywhere customers interact with them.

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.

If you missed it (or could use a refresher), no worries—we’ve collected insights from across the week that set the agenda for what brands and their partners are focusing now and into the next year. Want to see the key themes at a glance? Find our deck at the bottom of the page.

Surprise: everyone was talking about AI.

It’s no surprise that among all the themes covered at Cannes this year, generative AI was the toast of the town. Our programming at Les.Monks Café centered on how marketers are using the tech now—or how they can lay the foundation for the revolutionary effects of AI in the very near future. “AI: Powering Transformative Customer Experiences” was one panel touching on these topics.

At the top of the conversation, Jay Pattisall, VP & Principal Analyst at Forrester, shared insights from his recent forecast report co-authored by Michael O’Grady. “In Q1, 19% of marketers in the US have used generative AI in their marketing execution. By Q2, that grew to 56%. There’s a really substantial growth,” he said, noting that early use cases include content development as well as media strategy and buying.

But what does this look like? Carlos Ricardo, Sr. VP Marketing Services & Creative Production at HP, laid out the brand’s strategic balance in identifying opportunities now versus building toward future goals. “We established what would be the potential business impact in terms of prioritization,” he said. “So, we determined 14 different work streams that we are currently working on which we call ‘Day Zero’—experiments that have already started.” In addition, the team has mapped out plans for 30, 60 and 90 days into the future to keep its AI transformation on-track.

Solange Bernard, Sr. Director/Head of Marketing Communications at Tim Hortons, also offered a peek behind the counter at how they’re using AI: “The way we’ve been approaching it is twofold. One, you see it as an opportunity to be more efficient. And then there’s also creative content development—there’s a lot of excitement in what we could be doing.” Bernard noted AI tools have enabled the team to take their first steps into virtual production to scale up creative.

AI plays a key role as an integrator that unlocks growth for brands.

As Pattisall shared, AI is more than unlocking creative content at scale—there’s also great potential in media. Later in the panel, Media.Monks Co-Founder Wesley ter Haar explained that when you bring both disciplines together through dynamic creative optimization, you truly unlock AI’s revolutionary impact. “For me, it brings to the front the original intent and promise of digital advertising: this idea that we can be real-time responsive, have highly personalized goals, and highly targeted feedback loops.”

This sentiment was echoed at our “TuesdAI Breakfast Session” with our EMEA CEO Victor Knaap and EMEA Chief Growth Officer Maria Nordstrom. With the discussion focused primarily on the basics of generative AI, Knaap explained the importance of integration across the business to “make an enterprise-ready pipeline where we can go all the way from insights to the assets that run on media,” and that he expects to see brands implement structural changes from the top down to accommodate.

One example: the work we’ve done with BMW and Mini, in which “atomic assets”—bits and pieces of creative, like the car model or environment featured—come together based on user profiles and data. “So, you get an infinite amount of assets that can be served into media,” says Knaap, noting that this infinitude can even resonate with audiences you haven’t formally targeted—leading to newer insights along the way.

The secret to cultural relevance? Leaning into communities that align.

AI wasn’t the only topic for discussion at Cannes this year. There was also a lot of talk on building cultural relevance and authenticity, especially when it comes to serving a movement or community. This is already top of mind for many brands during Pride Month—but the 50th anniversary of hip-hop during August this year offers a case study of this concept in real time as brands lean into the culture.

This was a key topic in our panel “Hip Hop 50. Then. Now. Forever,” hosted in collaboration with Billboard, ADCOLOR and Sony Music Group. “Any time a brand wants to utilize or activate a culture, it’s got to be really thoughtful, and it’s got to have intention,” said Eric Johnson, Executive Creative Director, North America at MassiveMusic. “It’s really important for brands to honor the culture and understand the culture.”

With the group diving into legendary brand collaborations in the early days of hip-hop—like Run DMC’s historic signing with Adidas in the 80s after endorsing the shoes in their songs—Cashmere President and Chief Creative Officer Ryan Ford expressed the importance of seeking these natural alignments. “We’re trying to help brands understand where the authentic alignment is already. It’s not just about slapping a ‘Hip-Hop 50th Anniversary’ logo on your product, right?” Instead, he says, you need to think hard about how to show up for the cultural moment.

Mike Van, President at Billboard, offered one approach. “[Hip-hop culture] is inherently entrepreneurial, it’s bootstrap culture all the way. It’s all about financial independence and empowerment, and you have a whole generation now of consumers and fans of hip-hop who are thirsting for that kind of content.” The opportunity: brands can become arbiters to build knowledge within the culture.

Real purposeful marketing focuses on real solutions. 

One area where cultural relevance is key is purpose-driven marketing, which shows no sign of slowing down on the award circuit. That said, the nature of what passes for truly transformative, purposeful work has evolved from previous years. “We’ve moved beyond just raising awareness for good causes. We need tangible solutions,” Sara Cosgrove, our Global Director of Awards & Creativity, on our “Women Connect” panel.

Cosgrove was joined by Jo Wallace, Global Executive Creative Director, and Ashley Knight, Strategy Director, in the panel, which was moderated by Luciana Haguiara, Executive Creative Director, Latam. With Wallace and Knight having served on juries this year, the group pushed back against work that tacks on a cause. “It has to have absolute relevance,” Wallace said. “We’re noticing a real disparity between brands that have a genuine purpose and a reason to function in that space and to bring good, and brands where there’s some laziness—you’re trying to bolt on this purpose and it shows.”

A favorite piece of work among the team is our Havaianas Pride Research project, where we teamed up with Havaianas, Datafolja and All Out to create Brazil’s biggest LGBTQ+ survey. Questions related to community had been excluded from Brazil’s official census, so the survey was designed to make the community and its needs more visible. Its findings were released on a beautifully designed web platform developed by the Media.Monks team. 

There’s no single definition of “good” creative.

Speaking of impactful work, the leadup to Cannes this year didn’t have the single frontrunner that was expected to sweep all the awards—but that’s not a bad thing, because it’s indicative of more diversification of what “good” creative is. An increasingly diverse talent base, plus more diverse and representative juries at the festival, will continue to affect what work is awarded and further challenge industry norms and expectations.

“It all comes down to empathy. There’s never been as many diverse crises we’ve been facing as a group of people, as an industry, and I think the expectation is creativity needs to do more to create empathy among these groups,” Knight shared. “Having more diverse perspectives that can speak to other people’s circumstances and needs can only be a good thing and that’s where I see a lot of change in the work this year.”

So, what makes outstanding work? The Women Connect panel made a rubric: have a clever insight that links to the brand, don’t overcomplicate things, play to emotion, and give newcomers the chance to challenge their more established peers. This helps bring new perspectives to the fore that can uniquely relate to audiences.

Supporting green talent is the idea behind our NextUp.Monks competition, in collaboration with Cannes Lions, which aims to elevate up-and-coming creative talent. This year, teams competed by answering a creative brief from Meta, "VR for Good," which challenged participants to transform how Gen Z thinks about VR and show how a headset can change minds and transform lives. We finished the week with a toast to the six competition winners—Vasyl Ilba, Mykyta Zolotoverkhyi, Ashwin Paul, Jorene Chew, Anna Zhang and Yazad Dastur, Jr.—who touched on their processes and experiences bringing the brief to reality.

One interesting tidbit came from Dastur, on zeroing in on an idea that has an impact. “While we wanted to do something different, we didn’t want to do something big. We aligned really quickly that we wanted to focus on a very small problem that would be able to help everyday life.”

Looking ahead, brands are planning their transformation strategies.

Throughout Cannes, we got a glimpse into what brands are thinking about right now. But what should they be doing now to prepare for next year—and beyond? S4 Capital Executive Chairman sat down with Salesforce President Sarah Franklin and Diageo Chief Digital Officer Susan Jones to speak on “Gathering the Transformation Trio” and aligning C-suite leadership across agency, technology and brand for continued success.

Franklin kicked things off by touching on the evolving role of the CMO. “You’re seeing more CMOs as more strategic in the business, the pathway to these more strategic roles, even the pathway to the CEO which, I think, speaks volumes for how much is on the shoulders of the marketeers and how strategic they are,” she said. Sir Martin Sorrell’s advice to building more strategic brands: be agile, take back control, and invest in first-party data.

On agility, Jones spoke on the need of continually evaluating and re-evaluating your activities. “Test new things as they come long to understand how they work, and then take a step back and go, ‘Is this sustainable? What’s a better way?’” This agility helps empower teams to reorganize around changed or emerging needs.

When it comes to in-housing, Sorrell notes that the important thing is bringing teams together to work far more efficiently—something that AI can help unlock. “Being able to disseminate knowledge across the organization on the assumption that you’ve ingested the right data, and that you’ve opened it for access to all, is the really powerful thing—and it means you’re going to become a much more singular force for agencies to deal with,” by breaking down the silos and politics that typically slow things down.

Finally, “You have to have a strong foundation of your data. Your data has to be in order,” particularly when it comes to setting up artificial intelligence. But as the lifeblood of your brand, a solid data foundation can accomplish even more. Franklin mentioned Formula One, whose “Drive to Survive” Netflix series brought in a new fanbase, many of whom are women. “So you see how something which is very orthogonal to their actual business, which is a TV series, created this whole new community of fans for them. And what they’ve done from the data side to be able to really drive that personalization has been really impressive.”

The festival captured an industry at a pivotal moment.

While AI dominated the conversation at Cannes this week, it’s important to consider some of the pre-requisites touched on elsewhere throughout the festival: getting your data in order, integrating the business to achieve new outcomes and ensuring you lead with authenticity with everything you do. The beautiful part? Once you’ve made a solid foundation on each of these, you’ll be prepared to fully unlock the potential of technologies like generative AI. 

That’s it for Cannes this year—and we can’t wait to see how AI, more intentional creative and greater diversity on teams will continue to influence creativity next year.