Cultural Branding: What Is It & Why It’s Important

Cultural Branding: What Is It & Why It’s Important

Those brands that always seem to get it right? The ones that not only sell things but also embody ideas. The ones exist not just in your shopping cart but also in your newsfeed. In your conversations. In your sense of self.

How do they do it?

It does not have better features or cheaper prices. It’s not slicker ads or bigger budgets.

It’s cultural branding.

These companies aren’t simply responding to consumer needs but tapping into something more profound. They’re plugging into the cultural zeitgeist, riding waves of societal change and helping shape them.

Think Nike and civil rights. Patagonia and environmentalism. Apple and creative individualism.

They’re not peddling shoes, jackets, or phones; they’re selling worldviews… Identities… Belonging…

And here’s what gets you: in a world drowning in stuff –– where there’s essentially an unlimited supply of every product known to man –– cultural relevance has become the new scarcity. It’s what separates a forgettable transaction from an unforgettable icon.

So, are you ready to dig deep into this whole “cultural branding” thing? Well, then strap yourself in because this is about more than just changing up how you market. It’s about changing how you see your brand’s place in the world.

Because at the end of the day, only those brands will ever mean anything that stands for something bigger than themselves.

Let's find out what that could be for you.

What is Cultural Branding?

At the fundamental level, cultural branding links one’s brand with broader cultural motions and principles. It is not solely about vending a product; rather, it entails narrating a story that strikes deep into the hearts of the target audience by addressing their hopes and worldviews.

Take Nike, Apple or Patagonia as examples. 

These companies are not just selling shoes, gadgets, or outdoor gear. They vend an idea about what we could become – more athletic, creative and environmentally friendly too. This is what cultural branding does.

The Power Of Cultural Capital

Cultural branding relies on cultural capital, non-financial social assets that facilitate upward social mobility. When brands successfully tap into this kind of capital, they cease being products but metamorphose into symbols for identity and belonging.

Driving a Tesla is far beyond owning an electric car; it shows your concern for ecology, enthusiasm towards adopting the latest technologies, and even your social status. Tesla has blended these cultural threads excellently into its brand image.

To fully grasp cultural branding, there needs to be an understanding of how we ended up here, so let us quickly go through memory lane:

• Product-based branding: At some point in history, brands were all about the product. “Our soap cleans better!” “Our car goes faster!” It was a simple but very crowded marketplace.
• Emotional Branding Then came the emotional branding era, where benefits alone were no longer enough to sell a brand. People needed emotional connection. Coca-Cola's “Open Happiness” campaign is a good example; they do not sell soda pops but rather joy!
• Purpose-driven Branding Recently, there has been a rise in purpose-driven marketing strategies. Consumers are increasingly interested in supporting companies whose values align with theirs, such as TOMS Shoes, which donates one pair for every sale.

Cultural Branding: The Next Frontier

Now, let’s talk about cultural branding. It doesn’t mean the previous methods are useless – they are encompassed by it. However, it does more than that; it establishes brands as cultural icons which mirror and influence social values.

So, what should you do to make your brand culturally iconic? Let’s have a look at them:

1 – Recognise Cultural Conflicts

Successful cultural branding often deals with unresolved cultural tensions or contradictions. For example, Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign tapped into women’s frustration with unrealistic beauty standards.

2 – Tell a Captivating Story

Your brand has to tell a story that resolves these conflicts. This does not mean making up stories but positioning how your brand addresses societal problems.

3 – Use Cultural Symbols

Symbols are signs of culture which everyone from a specific community or society can understand. Fluency in these codes is necessary for cultural branding because it helps create genuine connections.

4 – Remain Uniform But Flexible

Your primary brand narrative should remain static even as its expression changes according to different cultural settings.

5 – Build a Sense of Belonging

Cultural brands do not only sell products to customers; they also foster communities where people with similar values and dreams come together.

Case Studies in Cultural Branding

Let’s consider a few examples of brands that have succeeded with the cultural branding model:

Nike: Just Do It

Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign is one of history's most iconic examples of cultural branding. When it was launched in 1988, the company tapped into a growing fitness craze and a broader shift towards self-empowerment. This isn’t about shoes – it’s a slogan and a philosophy for living.

Nike has continually updated this statement to reflect current cultural conflicts. For example, its latest ad featuring Colin Kaepernick boldly connected the brand with the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality towards African Americans in America today.

Airbnb: Belong Anywhere

“Belong Anywhere” is another excellent illustration of how to do cultural branding right that Airbnb created. In an age where people are becoming increasingly insular due to fear fueled by terrorism or xenophobia, this organisation is all about enabling international connections and mutual understanding among different societies worldwide while travelling abroad!

The power behind such myths lies in staying at someone else’s house rather than hotels, which makes you more than just another tourist.

Patagonia: Don’t Buy This Jacket

It may seem counter-intuitive for an outdoor gear company like Patagonia to tell people not to buy its products, but that is precisely what they did with “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” 

Such campaigns represent them more than champions of sustainable development or conscious consumption because these words were never fabricated out of thin air.

Instead, they were spoken from deep down inside every employee working at Patagonia who truly believed in these values. For example, we see some guy wearing one of their jackets while standing in front of a polluted river.

They’re trying to understand that we don’t need more stuff. 

Patagonia wants us all, from consumers to corporations alike – everyone really – to take a good hard look at our wasteful habits and figure out how to make less garbage together. 

They’re not just being cute when they say, “Don’t Buy This Jacket” either; the truth behind this statement lies in numbers like these: producing one pound of clothing generates about six pounds of CO2 emissions!

These are only three examples of cultural branding done well, but there are many more great ones out there. What is your favourite example?

The Challenges of Cultural Branding

Cultural branding, though very powerful, also has its downfalls:

Authenticity is everything

Customers are smart. If your cultural positioning doesn’t match your actual business actions, you will be accused of “woke-washing” before you can say “cancel culture”.

You must be culturally sensitive.

Different cultural contexts need to be navigated with deep understanding and sensitivity. What resonates in one culture might not work or offend another.

Always changing

Neither culture nor brand can stay the same forever. It would be best to constantly change your messaging to keep up with the times without losing who you are.

Controversial

Stating an opinion on cultural matters may divide opinions significantly. While it could strengthen ties with some people who form part of your main fanbase, others may resent it.

Implementing Cultural Branding: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready for cultural branding? Hold on tight because this isn't your grandmother's marketing strategy. It's a different ballgame, and the stakes have never been higher.

1 – Know Your Audience Inside Out

First things first: forget everything you think you know about your audience. Seriously — throw it out the window.

Now, start from scratch. Who are they? What keeps them up at night? What makes their hearts sing? What stories do they tell themselves about who they are and want to be?

This is not about demographics. It’s psychographics. It’s getting under the skin of what makes your audience tick.

Don’t just send out surveys. Live among them. Breathe their air. Walk a mile in their shoes, then walk another mile.

Because if you don’t truly get your audience, everything else is just noise.

2 – Identify Relevant Cultural Tensions

Now we’re getting into the good stuff. Look around. What’s simmering beneath the surface of society? What are those unspoken fears, whispered dreams, and shouted frustrations?

Cultural brands grow in these tensions like weeds through cracks in concrete — but that’s a good thing!

Maybe it’s individuality versus belonging… progress against tradition… or convenience weighed against conscience.

Find the tension that resonates with your people and aligns with what your brand is here to do — that’s where the magic happens!

3 – Develop Your Brand Myth

OK, now it’s time to become a storyteller — no, scratch that — a myth-maker!

Your brand isn’t just a product or service; it’s a story… about how things could be… about life resolving those cultural tensions you’ve spotted.

This isn’t about making things up; this is about giving voice to something already waiting there to be expressed, articulating our shared aspirations. Tell big stories! Make them bold! Make them matter!

4 – Align Your Brand Elements

This is where things start feeling real. Your brand myth must not remain just a nice anecdote for cocktail parties; it should be woven into every fibre of your being.

Your logo? It should whisper your myth. Your colour palette? It should scream the emotions behind your story. Your product design? It should shout out what you stand for.

Even customer service (yes, even that) should breathe life into our brand’s myths with each interaction we have – every touchpoint becomes another page in our storybook!

5 – Create Content That Tells Your Story

Content may be king, but only because it rules everything else around it!

So don’t let content strategy become an afterthought or an excuse to push products. Make sure all those words and pictures work overtime, painting vivid technicolors of possibility across this world we are trying so hard to build together!

Tell stories. Spark experiences. Create conversations. Let us see through a window into what could have been if only our brands had their way.

And remember: In the age of social media, audiences aren’t just consuming content — they’re co-creating it! Embrace that.

6 – Foster Community

All right, here's some truth: people don't just buy brands – they join them.

Our job isn’t simply about creating customers; it’s about building tribes, movements and communities of like-minded souls who share values and visions.

So let us create spaces (both online & offline) where our tribes can gather around OUR BRANDS and with one another.

When you make a true community, you create something more valuable than brand loyalty. You create belonging.

7 – Walk the Talk

But none of this is worth it if it’s all just talk.

Cultural branding is not a marketing strategy. It’s a business strategy. It’s a way of being in the world.

If your brand promises sustainability, your supply chain has to be squeaky clean. If you preach empowerment, your internal culture better walk the walk.

Because in an era of transparency, authenticity isn’t just nice to have. It’s survival.

Your brand can’t just say. It must do. It must be.

8 – Stay Culturally Relevant

And here’s the thing: culture doesn’t stand still. It’s a moving target, constantly shifting, always evolving.

Your brand can’t afford to calcify. It must be fluid, adaptive, and always in tune with the cultural zeitgeist.

This doesn’t mean chasing every trend. It means having your finger on the pulse of culture, ready to evolve your story as the world changes.

Because the moment your brand stops being culturally relevant is when it starts becoming irrelevant, period.

So there you have it. Your roadmap to cultural branding. This isn’t for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who want to play it safe.

But for those brave enough? This separates a brand that sells stuff from a brand that matters.

The choice is yours. What story will your brand tell?

Measuring the Success of Cultural Branding

How do you know if your cultural brand-building is working? Here are some things to look for:

Loyalty to the Brand

Cultural branding should create deep and lasting relationships with consumers. Look at repeat purchase rates or customer lifetime value.

Engagement on Social Media

Don’t stop at likes and shares. Are people talking about or defending your brand? This shows that it has strong cultural resonance.

Advocacy for the Brand

Measure how often customers recommend your brand to others. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) can help with this.

Impact on Culture

This is hard to measure, but see if there are indications that your brand is influencing broader conversations in society. Are you mentioned outside of your product category?

Employee Involvement

If a cultural identity resonates within an organisation, it will also be powerful externally. Track employee satisfaction or retention numbers.

The Future of Cultural Branding

Looking forward, several trends will define cultural branding in the future:

Customisation

Thanks to progress in artificial intelligence and data analytics, brands can personalise their cultural messaging down to narrower slices of their target audiences than ever before.

AR and VR

These technologies provide alternative methods for companies to ensure their cultural narratives stick by literally surrounding people in them.

Shopping with purpose

Since buyers want more from businesses — namely, shared values — cultural branding is becoming increasingly important.

International versus local

The challenge for brands is consistency across different countries while reflecting distinct cultures within those regions.

Branding around current events

Real-time reactions via social media or digital platforms necessitate quick thinking and an understanding of what’s happening in society.

Conclusion

Cultural branding is a significant change in how brands relate to people. Brands can build emotional connections that last longer than features and prices by picking up on deep cultural trends and presenting themselves as protectors of cultural values.

But this shift isn’t something to do casually. Cultural branding takes fundamental knowledge, genuineness, and the courage to stake out positions on important social matters. You shouldn’t adopt it only because it’s fashionable with some group or another; everything about your brand should reflect particular ways of life.

With buyers increasingly demanding significance alongside their purchases, this type of branding will grow more important over time. Those businesses that succeed at this — becoming sellers and representatives for more prominent beliefs — might become tomorrow’s legends.

So, is your brand ready for a cultural expedition?

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