Don’t Just Mimic Culture – Add to It! Says TBWA Global CSO Jen Costello

Culture is forever evolving — but are brands keeping up in a meaningful way?

Since 2021, ​TBWA’s global cultural intelligence unit, Backslash, has released an annual ‘Edges’ report, aiming to codify cultural change and connect it to brands. This year was no different, and the team identified 39 cultural shifts reshaping life today. 

This year’s report in particular emphasises that brands jumping on an endless stream of trends has contributed to “culture rot”, where content is being made to chase algorithms, rather than contribute to the human experience.

While the majority of Edges carry over year-to-year – albeit, updated with the latest tensions and manifestations impacting their trajectory – each year, several retire upon reaching the mainstream, while other emerging cultural shifts are added. Over 300 ‘culture spotters’ from 45 countries submit articles and insights into the Backslash portal daily, which the core team in LA monitors year-round. They then pressure test their hypotheses using a proprietary data product called Edges.AI. Informed by interviews with over 14,000 people across 33 countries, this process allows them to quantify which Edges are gaining momentum or slowing down.

In 2025, Backslash added three new Edges: Eco-Realism, Maturity Paradox, and Transparency Receipts.

“Eco-Realism and Transparency Receipts are both a direct response to declining consumer trust,” explains TBWA’s global chief strategy officer, Jen Costello. “Eco-Realism speaks to how the sustainability movement is finally growing up and getting real after years of making false promises. And in a similar vein, Transparency Receipts highlights how vague marketing terms like ‘green’ and ‘clean’ are being replaced with quantifiable proof of a product’s social and environmental impact.

“The underlying theme here is that people have become disillusioned by all the BS, and now we’re at a point where there’s no strikes left, the gig is up,” she adds, saying that today’s consumers expect brands to show them action taking place, and to take accountability when things go wrong.

The third addition, Maturity Paradox, explores the decoupling of age and maturity – an important concept for marketers, explains Jen, as the correlation between specific demographics and collective consumer behaviour loosens. “Kids are growing up faster thanks to social media,” says Jen. “Traditional markers of adulthood like marriage and homebuying are being delayed or skipped altogether; and people are retiring later and living longer.

“But this Edge isn’t about shedding age-related stereotypes altogether, it’s about figuring out which blueprints were actually helpful vs. which ones were holding us back. A good example is the introduction of new laws that restrict social media access for kids. Declining youth mental health is helping us realise that kids need to spend more time being kids, and less time scrolling through their phones.”

And these new Edges – nor the other 36 – aren’t just flash-in-the-pan trends. Instead, Backslash presents them as significant data points for brands to develop long-term strategy with. According to Jen, an Edge must be a “meaningful cultural shift that has the scale and longevity to propel a brand toward a greater share of the future” – and, to be deemed as such, must meet three criteria.

Firstly, Edges must be “rooted in human values, be recognisable through consumer behaviours, and lead to clear business implications”. Secondly, the cultural shifts must have sustained relevance for over 12 months – with an eye toward the future. And finally, an Edge has to be relevant globally, manifesting in more than half of Backslash-designated regions.

Discussing how this report and Backslash generally helps brands turn Edges into actionable business opportunities, Jen says, “We see culture as an indicator of the shape and direction of future demand. When we rise above the short-term trends and start looking at real shifts in behaviour and values, culture can tell us not just what is talked about today, but what people will be ready to pay more for, or less for, in the future.”

She adds that these opportunities aren’t limited to advertising and comms either, as the report introduces ideas for new products, features, brand experiences, and other ways of changing people’s habits. Sample provocations for brand action and examples of emerging technologies to assist with this can be found in the ‘What’s Next’ sections of each Edge in the report.

TBWA has been using the Edges to inform their own work, too. For example, TBWA\HAKUHODO’s ‘No Smiles’ campaign for McDonald’s used the ‘Work-Life Boundaries’ Edge to attract gen z workers.

“Gen z isn’t willing to sacrifice their own authenticity for a job. They want a workplace where they can be their truest selves, and sometimes that means not forcing a fake smile on demand,” says Jen. “So instead of reinforcing Japan’s famous ‘0 Yen Smile’ policy where workers are expected to give a smile for free, McDonald’s flipped that rule on its head and gave workers permission not to smile for the first time ever.” To make it more culturally-relevant, they delivered this message through an original song with the famously no-nonsense Japanese musician, Ano.

^{Above: '0 Yen Smile'  case study}

Elsewhere, TBWA\Chiat\Day LA has tapped into the Gender Rules Edge for its recent work with Beyoncé for Levi’s. “Western culture has long been seen through a white male lens, and the campaign flipped that norm upside down by celebrating an iconic female perspective – showing how the classic American denim uniform is made even better on a modern, confident woman.”

These are just two of the 39 Edges at work, though Jen says there are “unique lessons” to be learned from all of them - not to mention the overarching call to action from the report asking brands to “stop the culture rot”.

“Most marketers who obsessively track ‘culture’ are actually tracking a deluge of aesthetics, buzzwords and micro-trends that live and die online in a matter of weeks,” she says. “And as a result, we see the same tired cycle of copy-and-paste content – AKA ‘the rot’. Think ‘girl math’, ‘brat summer’, ‘very demure’ – all of which were entertaining for a hot second, but none of which have made a meaningful or lasting impact on culture.

^{Above: Levi's - 'REIIMAGINE'}

“Instead, we challenge brands to not just mimic culture, but to actually add to it. That’s exactly what our Edges were designed for, and that will be what separates the true changemakers from the followers this year.”

However, Jen and the Backslash team don’t pretend that centering the human experience and moving focus away from the algorithm and quick trends is a simple transition for all brands. “In truth, “ she says, “the easy option is to just keep playing into existing online trends (like churning out a quick Instagram post with the caption ‘very demure’), hence why that’s what the majority of brands are still doing.

“It’s a way to check the box, prove that you’re chronically online like everyone else, and move on,” she adds. “And it’s understandable, considering clients are short on time and money. In many cases, it may even feel like a win if you get enough likes. But the risk is that if you do it too much, you end up becoming directionless.”

The hard truth, Jen explains, is that if you want your brand to be culturally relevant, marketers can’t take shortcuts. According to her, and Backslash’s research to date, brands need to define a cultural challenge they want to solve, and stick with it at all costs, building for their most obsessive fans first.

“Most importantly,” she says, “they need to get out there and actually talk to people again. Relying purely on social media insights will only get you so far.”

You can read Backslash’s Edges Report 2025 in full here.​