Stop pulling your brand’s pants down for attention.
How to get noticed without trashing your brand.
“Fame costs. And your reputation is where you start paying.”
– Irene Cara in Fame. Kind of.
There’s a myth in marketing. That if you want to be memorable, you’d better be rudely outrageous. And if you want to be trusted, you’d better be quiet. It’s a choice between fame or fidelity, attention or integrity. But neither are true. And worse: it’s very easy to end up famous for all the wrong reasons.
WHEN THE SPOTLIGHT BURNS
There’s a type of communication you can do as a marketer that will get you attention. It usually involves doing something outlandish and unusual. Something unignorable that, if done well, is hard to forget and puts your brand firmly where you want it: in your target’s mind. But these types of communications live on the edge; a precarious place for a brand to balance.
Let’s talk about Thursday – the dating app that became famous by force.
Nobody had heard of it, so they tried to grab attention on the cheap. And they did. In spades. Spray-painted cars, handmade cardboard billboards, a living room in the street, and a camel. They were funny, anarchic, unmissable. Until they weren’t.
Fans of the campaigns said Thursday had “engineered awareness” and “spoken to the pain points of a generation.” But not everyone was a fan. Critics didn’t like how:
They got men who had cheated on their partners to wear ad placards.
They ran a handcuff campaign just after a high-profile case of a woman being kidnapped and killed using cuffs.
They ‘exploited’ animals (the aforementioned camel).
They asked people to write their ads for free during a wage crisis.
They even shamed their users (singles), which at least did prompt a rare apology.
Each stunt doubled app downloads, each post went viral. But every time, the brand got a little bit more tainted. And it didn’t stop with the ads. They reportedly underpaid interns, then posted about redundancies in a way that felt tone-deaf at best, cruel at worst. The brand impression that stuck? Exploitation.
The app is now dead; shuttered due to “declining interest in dating apps”. Except... stats don’t seem to support that. So we’re left to ask: Did the brand kill the app?
I’m gonna say yes, because writing without an opinion is as helpful as a cactus in a canoe.
I did love some of their work; there were obviously some creative powerhouses working there. But I also think some of what they did gave you a ‘dirty’ feeling. And as attractive as that may be for a while, I’m not sure that’s a feeling anybody wants to prolong. What Thursday did was a great attempt to be different, but that in itself isn’t good enough. You need to consider your audience and how it will land with them.
And importantly, if your stunt really works, you’ll get more attention than just your audience. You’ll get the attention of the people you didn’t want, and some of them may feel compelled to say something about it. If those people can twist your original intention into something you didn’t intend, you could be in for some trouble.
Just because something is contagious enough to be shared far and wide doesn’t make it good; just ask the Black Death. So, unless you have a brand that includes cringeworthy, lame, awkward and crass in its guidelines, beware.
BUT DULLNESS COSTS TOO
Avoiding the spotlight’s burn doesn’t mean you should sit in darkness. This is not a call to stop doing provocative things. There’s a big difference between smart provocation and stunt-led desperation. You CAN get attention without pulling your brand’s pants down, and the best brands do it every day.
HOW TO GET YOUR LEVEL RIGHT
Some brands know exactly where they sit on the provocation spectrum.
Take Hallmark. They’re the soft, sentimental centre of the brand chocolate box – and they know it. They’re not trying to be edgy. If they even hinted at being any more risqué than these ads or activations, their customer base would flinch. That’s brand safety, not dullness. Not to its audience – it works because it’s aligned.
Now take Liquid Death – the punk-metal, kill-your-thirst water brand. They’re crass, cartoonishly gory, and sometimes divisive. But they are considered. There’s intelligence behind that absurdity.
They provoke with purpose. They don’t really set out to piss any particular group of people off (unless you’re an incontinent mosher), and their derision of clichés doesn’t endanger any groups or inflict mental anguish on anyone. Even their apologies (and yes, they do them) feel like part of the show – not a walk of shame.
And of course there’s Red Bull – the godfather of bold alignment. They don’t just sponsor extreme sports. Or just fund them. They invent them. Send people into the stratosphere to jump back down in free-fall and collect the monies.
But here’s what’s critical: they’re not doing it only to widen your eyes in unbelievability. They’re doing it to show what their brand stands for – energy, edge, the limits of what someone can do. You don’t see people calling it tone-deaf. You see audiences nodding, going, “Yeah. That’s Red Bull.”
SMALL BRANDS CAN DO THIS TOO
“But we don’t deal with big brands on that level,” I hear you cry gently into your coffee. Well, nor do we. Yet. But shameless plug aside, I’m going to show you how it works for the brands we (and you) deal with.
We were tasked with getting more attention for Maillard & Co., an estate agency brand on the island of Jersey. Their brief? Stand out in a fierce local market where property is like gold. What did we do? We always start by taking the brand’s essence and amplifying it, until it’s loud enough to lead. Maillard’s honest tone of voice and established trust became no-nonsense action and straightforward, brutal honesty.
But a few key points here. It was honesty that also knew the audience inside out. Honesty that made them nod in agreement or smile a little. We translated what customers (and the wider community) were already thinking and feeling. What you end up with is ads and stunts that they recognise as their own thoughts.
First, we turned typical estate agent fluff into plainspoken truth:
→ (insert examples)
Then we amped up their no-nonsense approach for an ‘asking price’ campaign – hijacking events with ice creams that only cost what you asked.
→ (insert examples)
And again for their ‘half price’ campaign.
→ (insert examples)
These ads and activations helped push Maillard & Co. up the attention ladder, while taking care that the brand avoided the notoriety that often comes with attention-grabbing tactics. No camels. No cruelty. Just directness dialled up.
It worked because it was them.
INTRODUCING: THE DULLPROOF FILTER™
Here’s your framework for fame with fidelity. Before you launch that bold idea and start poking the public’s eyeballs, ask yourself:
Audience Fit
Would your customer feel seen by this? Would they nod or cringe?Broader Integrity
What happens when people outside your audience see it? Will it feel like it has meaning, or feel exploitative?Brand Truth
Does this stretch your brand’s personality? Or snap it?
If you pass all three, you’re good. If not, you might be riding a hump-day camel.
YOU CAN’T HACK YOUR WAY TO MEANING
There’s a tempting shortcut doing the rounds lately: The apology-as-strategy. Make a bold move, cause offence, apologise publicly – and come out smelling like a savvy, self-aware rose. Some even make an ad out of the apology.
→ (insert KFC example)
Back in the 60s, psychologist Elliot Aronson coined the pratfall effect; the idea that we like competent people more when they make a small mistake. It makes them human.
But here’s the catch: If they weren’t seen as competent to begin with, the pratfall just makes them look worse.
Same for brands. If you’re strong and well-aligned, you can be provocative. You can even screw up, apologise, and come out stronger. Some big brands (including Bumble and Apple) have had to apologise lately for their ads – and they’ve recovered. Because humility works. But if your brand’s strength is vague, or your tone of voice shifts with the wind? Every bold apology smells like PR spin. And nobody likes that smell.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
If you’re a marketer, here are some simple truths:
Masses of attention is, of course, not bad.
Outrage is rarely a long-term strategy.
Fame isn’t worth your name.
Safe ≠ Boring.
You don’t have to choose between brand integrity and attention. You just have to know what your brand actually stands for, and then stand for it louder.
Check your surroundings. Check your integrity. That’s your runway. Because from there, you can provoke, perform, and protect your brand, all at once. And don’t avoid overt attention thinking it’s easier either:
If you're never ruffling feathers, you're probably not flying.
READY TO PROVOKE WITH PURPOSE?
If you want help building a campaign that turns heads without losing yours, impact with integrity intact, that’s what we’re here for. Let’s do attention the right way.