In a recent podcast, TikTok influencer turned Sirius XM Radio show host Tinx declared that she wishes brands would stop trying to speak like “annoying Gen Z’s” in the comments.
“Why can’t a brand just be a brand anymore?” she lamented.
To an extent, I agree with this sentiment — some brands have lost their serious credibility, in the age of youthful and sometimes silly TikTok and Instagram engagement. But this posturing (that lends itself to credibility) has been replaced with a false sense of relatability. And in trying to stay young, fresh, and relatable, some brands have sacrificed their integrity.
What I mean by this: integrity as strong, clear branding, that tells a story, with purpose. Branding that’s watered down with cheap engagement tactics can at best feel hollow, and at worst it can land with a thud that creates a ripple of press and backlash that can negatively impact sales and consumer perception.
Wishbone Kitchen vs Bon Appetit
This issue of branding being watered down with cheap engagement tactics was exemplified recently by the Wishbone Kitchen x Bon Appetit scandal. Wishbone Kitchen, aka Meredith Hayden, former private chef and culinary school grad, now full-time content creator with a cookbook, created a popular dinner series called “Dinner with Friends,” which she “self shot, edited and directed” for her YouTube channel.
This February, Bon Appetit launched a new dinner series called . . . “Dinner with Friends.” The concept, naming and branding, which utilised a popular colour combo of baby pink and cherry red that Gen Z’s adore (myself included), was similar to Hayden’s series. That being said, when I watched Hayden’s rebuttal TikTok about the alleged copying, I couldn’t help but wonder: was this a case of a branding crossover between popular New York new and old guard media channels? Did Bon Appetit and Hayden both happen to tap into the same cultural zeitgeist, packaged in the same video format and aesthetic, around the same time? Or did Bon Appetit directly lift their content and branding from Hayden’s YouTube series?
Poppi vs Olipop Controversy
This raises larger questions about trends in the food and beverage space across the board. In the age of social media, when everyone is pushing their brand and product into a smorgasbord of community-based, trendy colour palette media streams, how do you carve out a truly unique concept, and execute it with a distinct voice, tone and style?
Relying too heavily on flashy tricks without a well-thought out foundation can also result in a media maelstrom.
Around the Super Bowl, popular Gen Z “healthy” soda brand Poppi found itself in hot water when the Poppi PR team sent influencers giant vending machines of soda to stock and film for their social media channels. The machines, hot pink and towering over influencers like Jake Shane, Rachel Sullivan and Avery Wood, allegedly cost $25,000 each — and Poppi shipped 32 of them out.
Competitor prebiotic soda brand Olipop commented on this staggering figure — literally — in the comments of TikToker Isabella Lanter’s video chastizing the brand.
“For the record, those machines cost $25K each lol, the Olipop account wrote under Lanter’s video,” People reported.
This raises an interesting point about the cutthroat nature of carving out your own niche in a competitive marketplace. Poppi and Olipop, down to their gumball-esque brand names, are nearly identical in terms of product and marketing. This “scandal” afforded Olipop the opportunity to walk over Poppi, establishing a more authentic, down to earth tone that is attractive to modern consumers (particularly in times of recession).
What do consumers want from brands?
Consumers across the board are gravitating towards content that feels “real:” meaning, content from brands that’s anchored by community engagement, a sense of humour and a thoughtful prioritisation of what people care about today.
While the term has become diluted through overuse, the power and importance of community can’t be overstated.
What is common in good community engagement?
True community isn’t just based on quippy engagement in the comments section — it’s an actionable relationship between brand and consumer, based on open conversation and equity. True community, in my opinion, is rare to find within the brand space these days — an organic, gravitational pull towards a particular company comes from something deeper than selling products can offer.
Think about Apple, Nike and other big name brands that have devoted, loyal followings (and have become household names). Being an “Apple person” means something in terms of personal identity — Microsoft users are often thought of as digital Dads or desktop oriented tech bros, while Apple users are swift, streamlined. Nike runners can sync their routes to the brand’s app to “just do it.”
This is why I believe many brands are launching Substacks, to delve into a platform known for its engagement and less social media-esque feed. The RealReal, Rare Beauty and Tory Burch have all launched Substacks to send out email newsletters to their “community,” to name a few. This has to be done carefully: Substack is meant for editorial content, “girl diary entries” and casual product recs from writerly influencers. Push too overly branded content on the masses and people will roll their eyes at the misuse of an app with the best of intentions.
Craving community ties into the current loneliness epidemic, and how people are craving intimacy. In a Stats Canada survey, over 1 in 10 Canadians,reported feelings of loneliness. Scrolling for intimacy is a favourite pastime of my generation (me and my friends often talk about why we scroll on TikTok, and what we’re really searching for in these fleeting videos that can afford a 30 second sense of being “seen”).
As such, consumers are gravitating towards brands that provide a sense of connection. This comes with authenticity, feeling respected and not taking themselves so seriously. This is where Poppi faltered — who’s stocking a hot pink vending machine full of prebiotic soda anywhere but Margot Robbie’s dream house in the Barbie movie? In an era where people are struggling to make rent, this expensive PR move fell flat. It’s a difficult line to toe, as everything is always expensive, and it can be difficult to know what will land with consumers. But studying the recession cycle is helpful — sometimes, we crave 80’s style, all-out Gatsby era opulent glamour, to live vicariously through the 1%, and sometimes we feel incensed by this content, bolstered by the need to band together in the real world, hunker down and weather the storm.
Food and beverage marketing trends
Here’s some healthy advice we have to give based on trends in the food and beverage industry today! When it comes to successful marketing for food and beverage brands, it’s important to consider that consumers are seeking healthful options, with a variety of dietary restrictions gaining traction in common conversation — gluten free, low sugar, dairy free. Offering these options and rebranding existing snacks with a variety of dietary restriction options is a way that many brands like Walker’s are refreshing their image to maximize their community growth and relevancy in a changing food and beverage landscape.
Why funny brand marketing works
To integrate these trends successfully, brands are using smart humour to grab — and hold — consumer’s attention. For example, Taco Bell recently announced their new Cheez-it Crunchwrap with an Apple-esque conference that attendees ate up, generating over 57m impressions and over 5 million engagements.
Cava recently posted a meme of a pita chip with the caption: “cava gave me the password to take over the IG so we can celebrate my birthday week together!” that went viral for its creative take, generating tons of positive engagement. It was perfectly on brand and silly. Subway followed suit, posting a Facebook Marketplace ad selling a Ziploc bag of “Subway Air” for $500, with a message from a potential buyer (“hi, is this still available?”). Liquid Death took humorous posting a step further, with Nashville country star Carter Faith singing Liquid Death hate-comments aloud in an ironic video that was applauded for its fresh take on owning negative comments.
If you’re looking to build your brand in the food and beverage space, we know what not to do — and we have our finger on the pulse of what actually works.
FAQs
A: TLDR: Focusing on community engagement, having a sense of humour and keeping a finger on the pulse of content that consumers are craving is a solid marketing foundation for food and beverage brands.
A: Maybe? Probably? It’s hard to determine the level of life that came directly from Meredith Hayden’s content, versus the smorgasbord of similar food and beverage content across the internet. In my personal opinion, it was a subconscious copy from a dialled in Gen Z staff member who was familiar with her content — without intentionally trying to duplicate.
A: Poppi tried to launch influencer-friendly marketing campaign involving hot pink $25,000 vending machines and a whole lot of backlash (they were called out by their competitor, Olipop).
