For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by culture. How does culture affect human behavior? Or, does behavior dictate the changing culture? Why do certain trends take off and others fail? Why were shoulder pads all the rage in the 80s and today Generation Z finds things drippy?
This passion has resulted in me being on a crusade to define culture for brands for 25+ years and why I joined Vault49 – to build brands for culture.
In this article, I dissect exactly what we mean by ‘culture’, outlining why it is imperative to effective brand building, and share a list of prompts to consider when thinking about embedding your brand in culture.
What Do We Mean By ‘Culture’?
‘Culture’ is a meaty, multi-layered and highly subjective word that’s thrown around a lot these days; from ‘culture wars’ to ‘subcultures’ to ‘counterculture’. To cut through the chaos, culture is the ‘art of meaning-making’. This view gives us the semiotic tools we need to move brands forward, intrinsically connecting human motivation with cultural shifts.
What it’s not is observing and guessing ‘what’s next’. I learned early on that playing in culture can be a risky business. You can’t rush to conclusions too quickly. You have to be willing to listen, learn and shift your perspective, not force the narrative you want to create.
This means you have to embrace the chaos.
Change is constant and with culture, you are never ‘done’, only building on what you've learned.
It is important to separate ‘trends’ from ‘cultural shifts’. Trends tend to come in fast and leave even faster, making brands vulnerable to change, instead of leveraging it. We see brands as beacons, looking to unlock ‘cultural shifts’ that illuminate the way forward.
How To Win The Elusive Relevance Game
If you think cultural relevance doesn’t matter to your brand, think again. Growing cultural meaning helps brands move beyond ‘product’ to living seamlessly within people’s lifestyles, becoming a choice, habit or better yet, an extension of how they see themselves.
First, you have to clarify your brand’s role in culture. Start by understanding what is intrinsically true about your brand and the culture it came from. What was your brand’s original purpose? What meaning did it provide in people’s lives? Then, ask yourself, “How has culture shifted that intrinsic meaning?” This will help you see how your brand meaning could have shifted, and your purpose could evolve. It will also help unlock new cultural spaces to expand.
Cultural Relevance = Brand Value
Brands with higher cultural relevance have more value in both consumers’ minds and to your bottom line. Look no further than Kantar’s BrandZ as proof that brand value, defined by ‘meaningfulness, difference and salience’ is driven through cultural relevance. According to Kantar, since the study began in 2006, the ten most powerful brands have increased by 414% compared to 231% for the S&P 500.
Power To The People
In order to unlock cultural meaning, you first have to recognize that humans and culture have a symbiotic relationship. But, culture is messy, so this relationship constantly breathes and morphs in real time.
