Why Brands Need Social That Slaps

Image source: Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash

The same brands, jumping on the same trends, speaking to the same cultural moments, using the same language has created an indistinguishable blending of bland brands on social. And it’s not slapping.

Your brand is ignorable. Mass culture is boring (if it’s not dead already, it’s boring). And being dull is costing you – in cold hard cash, yes – but in your audience’s patience too. Your brand is stuck on repeat.

With all this blandification, we need Work That Slaps.

Some of the most attention grabbing, memorable and unexpected moments in culture have been slaps. Will Smith at the Oscars. Kat Slater, Pat Butcher. Grace Jones. Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton having a slap-off in The First Wives Club. Cher’s Oscar award winning slap. Iconic. The great slaps of our time (Yes, I’m gay, thank you for noticing).  

This is the basis for what I call ‘Work That Slaps. That Lot’s creative mantra. This is work that gets attention, is memorable and unexpected – great slaps are made of these. And it ain’t safe. It’s what we’ve gotta do to make content that works on social.

It’s time, brands, to throw off the shackles of the millennial sincerity that birthed brand purpose and meaningless motivational quotes on billboards -- and instead embrace the new era of risk, menace and mischief. Redefining brand participation, playing and breaking the algorithms and bringing bold creativity to feeds. 

Audiences are consuming content in a myriad of different ways, fast and slow, expressing new behaviours, adopting new platforms, forming new communities and subcultures every single day. This isn’t about gen z either, every generation is doing it – the number of Boomers on TikTok from 2022 to 2023 grew 53% year on year (GWI). Audiences of all generations are creating and curating their best (and worst) lives on social. 

But the last thing they want is to be advertised to.

Think about what’s got your attention this week. Was it the person cleaning a rock for 30 days until it looked like a mirror? Was it your mum falling off a table in the pub garden after a few too many glasses of rose? Was it a couple of hot gays who’ve turned Trump’s unhinged rant “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” into a club banger and an original dance? Oh, wait. I am revealing too much about my own algorithm? 

This is about attention. We need to rediscover how to stand out again. Because it’s costing ya. “If you produce a dull campaign in the UK it costs you roughly £10m more in media spend to have the same commercial impact as an interesting campaign according to Peter Field’s latest research for System1. Cutting cinematic TV ads down into little 9:16 pieces or splashing big value statements on social ads ain’t cutting it and ain’t cutting through. Yet brands are still spending huge amounts of money doing it. It’s a waste of money. It’s really boring.

But how, Paul, how? *cries in brand*. Well, I’ll tell you.

Know yourself.  

For years, I've played brand guardian at brands like Deliveroo and Google, but social is changing how brands show up. To be truly native, brands need to take off their suit, hang up their ties, put on a pair of jeans and a pair of pink fluffy slippers – and discover their main character energy. 

The world lives on social. That world is made up of real people. People are messy. It’s not made up of brands with rigid rules. Real people, real things, real time. Running a social account for a brand is like writing a character for TV. 

Think about your favourite TV characters and story arcs. Were you surprised when Tom betrayed Shiv? Were you surprised when Maggie shot Mr Burns? When little Mo whacked that guy around the face with an iron? I don’t even need to mention the show's name because you already know. That’s how memorable they are. People act out. People divert from their paths and do something unexpected that keeps you transfixed on their story. Why do you think Shakespeare's plays are still relevant 400 years on? Because this is what great stories are made of – and it slaps. 

Know your crowd.

Mass marketing is dead. And it’s expensive. There’s a sharp decrease in under 35’s watching TV and a sharp increase in the cost of TV cpm. Gen Z even reports to feel more themselves online than they do in the real world. This is because they’ve found their tribe and they are having a blast with their subculture in these spaces. 

The brands that are trying to be everything to everyone are nothing to no one.

The brands that are really slapping on social right now are the ones who are building for the niche – speaking to fans and obsessives who forge an IYKYK kinda relationship. These brands build ideas and cues around these audiences. These associations are your future brand codes. Additions to the traditional brand assets, but more community focused – that over time become unforgettable. If the idea is good, others interpret it in a million ways that speak to millions of others in other subcultures and fandoms – catching light and creating fire across the internet.

Play.

The last thing you need to make Work That Slaps is that you must play. Marketers still seem to be disillusioned that they preside over perfect customer journeys with full control over their message and media. You haven’t. 'Perfect' should no longer be in the brand lexicon. Let go of that control and have some fun in the name of standing out. The basics are important, yes, but build your brand world and turn it into a universe of attention grabbing, iterative fragments that travel way beyond traditional channels that brands control.

There’s fear and trepidation stepping into social. We get it. It’s vast and never ending. The culture moves fast, brands get it wrong, customers are unfiltered. But play is the thing. Little and often. The internet forgets. Pretty quickly. But ask yourself, what are you really scared of? Your biggest fear should be being ignored. 

When Duolingo first introduced Duo to its feeds, it bombed. Duo got minimal views and engagement. But crucially, it was a WTF moment that got people’s attention. They kept playing with the format, with how unhinged this bird could really become – to the point where fans cheer when Duo is in the crowd at a Charli XCX gig. A cultural phenomenon born from a corporate social team.  

What I’m talking about here has been true since the dawn of advertising. These are the great principles behind effective advertising. But attention, memorability and unexpectedness in this medium has energy and power like no other medium. 

This is the opportunity to value great ideas again. This is the opportunity to entertain, not advertise. This is the opportunity to make Work That Slaps.

If you’re gonna sell me something I don’t need, you better make it fun. Or else.