For those living under a rock, ’brat summer’ is what is painting the town, or in this sense, world, green. But the question arises on whether marketers should hop on these social media trends.
Though it has an already established backing, trends like ‘brat summer’ are not something all marketers need to hop on.
Derived from Charli XCX’s recent album titled, brat, the popularity of the album has caused a social media frenzy.
From catchphrases like ‘brat girl summer’ and popular TikTok dances to the song “Apple” from the album, it seems that any social media manager hoping on the trend is guaranteed success.
But Elly Strang, Content and Communications Lead at brand tracking platform, Tracksuit, says sometimes you have to say no.
In the world of marketing, the economy is ideas, and when an idea like hopping on the trend of ‘brat summer’, it can be difficult to turn away from it.
“It’s learning the art of saying no,” she says.
When trends like ‘brat summer’ come up, Strang says it comes down to social media managers to determine whether it aligns with your brand.
It makes sense for Jetstar to jump on the wave, but not Air New Zealand.
“It goes back to your identity, your core brand pillars, your communication talking points and whether it feels right for you,” says Strang.
For many marketing teams there is a fear that if you don’t jump on a trend quickly, you can make your brand irrelevant, but it is key to know that the pace at which trends come and go is “fleeting”.
“There will always be a future opportunity to jump on a trend,” she adds.
“If you’re sitting out on a trend, any good marketer should still be aware of them and stay on top of them and have that baseline understanding because it is essentially pop culture moments that are driving these trends.”
Taking a strategic approach over hopping on trends will create better results, at the end of the day.
If a trend does fit one’s brands, Strang says it’s important to be an early adopter because delaying a response or having to wait for long sign-off processes, will lessen the impact, making you look like you’re late to the party.
Now trends, as previously mentioned, are fleeting and so when it comes to debating whether or not to jump on the bandwagon because it may stay longer than just two weeks, Strang says to have your finger on the pulse.
Once a trend has reached global adoption and in different markets, that’s a good sign that a trend is here to stay.
Like ‘brat summer’ for example, which started trending immediately when the album came out in the beginning of June – now it is the end of August.
And when you hop on these trends, it’s important to “ladder up back to your own brand identity and key messaging”, especially if after participating in a trend and a brand gets a viral moment.
One example that Strang has seen is RTD brand and Tracksuit client, Pals.
Taking an approach that ties back to its products, Pals utilised its existing flavour of lime and soda and its brat-esque colour and changed the font to follow suit with ‘brat summer’.
This is the perfect way to tie it back to its product but also participate in the trend.
“Businesses shouldn’t look at jumping on a trend as an opportunity to show off product features and pricing – creating trend-related content is much more a brand building exercise, and a way to grow brand awareness,” adds Strang.
“This means creating content that evokes memorable emotions, like entertainment, surprise, and delight, so you’re building familiarity and trust over time with consumers.”
Current trends like ‘very demure’ are yet to solidify themselves as something that will last but as the Southern Hemisphere now enters its warmer months, the ‘brat summer’ trend is ready to take on its next life.
